Deep-sea observations are reported of horizontal waterflow differences with typical amplitudes of 0.02 m s-1 over 50-m small scales so that relative vorticity reaches values of the inertial frequency f. The timeseries observations are made using a complex mooring system deployed in the 2500-m deep Mediterranean Sea, where vertical density stratification is extremely weak, with buoyancy frequency O(f), and the slow waterflow with total speeds<0.07 m s-1 is dominated by inertial internal waves and sub-mesoscale eddies. Horizontal waterflow differences increase when polarization, i.e. direction of traversal of elliptic oscillatory motion, switches sign. Common anticyclonic polarization of inertial motions is predominantly found under near-homogeneous conditions. It alternates with uncommon cyclonic polarization under stratified-water conditions, varyingly over 50-m distances. The alternation is in line with predictions from non-traditional inertio-gravity wave theory, but only when relatively strong turbulent convection causes local reduced stratification, as observed.
Interaction between energy-abundant mesoscale eddies and internal waves can lead to convection-turbulence generation and may prove important for deep-sea life and circulation. However, the size of scales of interacting flows is not well known. In this paper, a diagnostic tool of tilt is tested near the single top-buoya...
Fine-scale ocean dynamics strongly influence coastal mixing, sediment transport, and vertical exchange, yet remain difficult to observe at the spatial scales at which they occur. Here, we use total surface current vectors measured by the airborne Ocean Surface Current Airborne Radar (OSCAR) to investigate sub-kilomet...
Jakub W. Michalski, Adrien C. H. Martin, R. Marsh et al.· Frontiers in Marine Science· 0 citations
Typhoons can substantially perturb the thermal and circulation structure of marginal seas, yet in the Yellow Sea most studies have focused on surface cooling, vertical mixing, and coastal upwelling/downwelling, while the hourly-scale response of subsurface circulation below the thermocline remains poorly understood. Us...
Chen Peng, Cheng-Wu Zhao, Hang Yu et al.· Journal of Marine Science an...· 0 citations
Using a high-resolution MITgcm simulation, together with mooring observations, satellite sea level anomaly (SLA) data, and tidal harmonic analysis, this study examines the interactions of typhoon-generated near-inertial waves and tidal processes with a mesoscale warm eddy in the northern South China Sea during Typhoo...
Shi-Fan Wang, Jie Xu, Shun-Zhi He et al.· Journal of Physical Oceanogr...· 0 citations
Surface Stokes drift depends strongly on the energy and directions of short waves, which are incompletely resolved by routine wave observations. We derive surface Stokes drift vectors from wave measurements collected by compact drifting buoys during three deployments in the North-East Atlantic and the Alboran Sea. The...
A. Mironov, Fabrice Collard, Gwenaele Jan et al.· 0 citations
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