Rapid injection of near-inertial shear into the stratified upper ocean at an Antarctic Circumpolar Current front

Forryan, A. and Naveira Garabato, A. C. and Polzin, K. L. and Waterman, S. N.

abstract: The impact on the upper ocean of the passage of a short, intense storm over a Southern Ocean site, in proximity to an Antarctic Circumpolar Current front, is characterized. The storm causes a wind-induced deepening of the mixed layer and generates an inertial current. Immediate post-storm observations indicate a mixed layer extending to approximately 50 m depth. Subsequent measurements show the upper-ocean to have re-stratified, injecting near-inertial shear in stratified waters within 1 day of the storm’s passage. This time scale for the development of near-inertial shear is one order of magnitude shorter than that predicted by the β-dispersion paradigm. The observed rapid changes in upper-ocean stratification point to the existence of an as yet undocumented, efficient mechanism for injection of near-inertial shear into the stratified ocean that is in turn associated with enhanced turbulence and mixing. 
@article{Forryan-etal-2015,
  author = {Forryan, A. and Naveira~Garabato, A. C. and Polzin, K. L. and Waterman, S. N.},
  title = {Rapid injection of near-inertial shear into the stratified upper ocean at an {Antarctic} {Circumpolar} {Current} front},
  journal = {Geophys. Res. Lett.},
  year = {2015},
  pages = {3431--3441},
  volume = {42},
  issue = {9},
  doi = {10.1002/2015GL063494},
  url = {https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/376013/}
}


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