Data supporting "Storm-driven near-inertial waves and mixing"

Abstract

Near-inertial waves are one of three major sources of deep-ocean mixing. Little is known about their energy pathways beyond their wind generation and that only 15-25% of the wind-forced near-inertial wave energy radiates equatorward as low modes. They contain half the kinetic energy and most of the vertical shear in the ocean. O(1 TW) inertial wind power is injected by a few dozen mid- latitude fall and winter storms. While numerical and observational evidence points to the bulk of the inertial wind power being lost in the near-field of storm forcing, dissipating and mixing immediately below the surface layer, there has been little observational work to investigate this major piece of the inertial energy budget in detail. As well as determining the fate of wind-forced near-inertial waves, the proposed work will quantify the climatologically-important depth dependence of turbulent mixing in the pycnocline.