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Bouruet-Aubertot et al. 2005
Bouruet-Aubertot, P., Mercier, H., Gaillard, F. and Lherminier, P. (2005). Evidence of strong inertia-gravity wave activity during the POMME experiment. Journal of Geophysical Research 110: doi: 10.1029/2004JC002747. issn: 0148-0227.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize inertia-gravity waves (IGW) activity and to investigate the variability of these waves in relationship to atmospheric forcing and larger-scale motions. To this aim, we analyzed Eulerian measurements of horizontal currents and temperature collected over 1 year during the Programme Oc¿an Multidisciplinaire M¿so Echelle (POMME). We focused on the main frequency components of the IGW spectrum, namely the inertial frequency f and the semidiurnal frequency M2. Time evolution of the relative energy of these two components gave evidence of isolated events of high intensity. We performed a detailed analysis of these events and identified mechanisms of generation of these waves. Localized spots of intense, near-inertial IGW were observed in winter. During the mixed layer deepening, one event was correlated with plume-like structures resulting from peaks of intense surface cooling. This suggests a local generation process driven by strong downward vertical motions. Instead, other events of strong IGW could be related to submesoscale features, characteristic of a frontal region, in particular, wave trapping within anticyclonic eddies. In contrast, a downward energy propagation down to about 500 m below the mixed layer was isolated after a stormy period. Eventually, internal tidal beams, possibly generated at a nearby seamount, intermittently crossed the mooring, though less energetically than the previous events. Last, we estimated the eddy diffusivity from the velocity vertical shear. Large variations were obtained, from 10-6 m2/s up to 10-3 m2/s, consistent with the intense events previously isolated.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Oceanography, Physical, Internal and inertial waves, Oceanography, Physical, Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes, Oceanography, Physical, Upper ocean and mixed layer processes, inertia-gravity waves, turbulent mixing
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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