Langmuir circulation: An agent for vertical restratification?

Journal of Physical Oceanography

Volumn 42, Issue 11, 2012, Pages 1945-1958

  Li, Ke ^a   Zhang, Zhexuan ^a   Chini, Greg ^a   Flierl, Glenn ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE   (United States)

Author keywords

Convection; Diapycnal mixing; Fronts; Instability; Oceanic mixed layer; Turbulence

Indexed keywords

DIAPYCNAL MIXING; FRONTS; HYBRID MODE; INSTABILITY MODES; LANGMUIR CIRCULATIONS; LANGMUIRS; LINEAR STABILITY; MIXED LAYER; NONLINEAR EVOLUTIONS; OCEAN SURFACES; OCEANIC MIXED LAYERS; RESTRATIFICATION; RICHARDSON NUMBER; SYMMETRIC MODE; VERTICAL MIXING; VORTEX FORCE;

HEAT CONVECTION; MIXING; OCEANOGRAPHY; PLASMA STABILITY; SURFACE WAVES; TURBULENCE; TWO DIMENSIONAL;

STABILITY;

INSTABILITY; LANGMUIR CIRCULATION; MIXED LAYER; OCEANIC CONVECTION; OCEANIC FRONT; SURFACE WAVE; TURBULENCE; UPPER OCEAN; VERTICAL MIXING; WAVE PROPAGATION;

EID: 84871992597     PISSN: 00223670     EISSN: 15200485     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/JPO-D-11-0225.1     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Boccaletti, G., R. Ferrari, and B. Fox-Kemper, 2007: Mixed layer instabilities and restratification. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 37, 2228-2250.
2. Craik, A. D. D., 1977: The generation of Langmuir circulations by an instability mechanism. J. Fluid Mech., 81, 209-223.
3. Craik, A. D. D., and S. Leibovich, 1976: A rational model for Langmuir circulations. J. Fluid Mech., 73, 401-426.
4. Ferrari, R., and D. Rudnick, 2000: The thermocline structure of the upper ocean. J. Geophys. Res., 105, 16 857-16 883.
5. Haine, T. W. N., and J. C. Marshall, 1998: Gravitational, symmetric, and baroclinic instability of the ocean mixed layer. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 28, 634-658.
6. Holm, D. D., 1996: The ideal Craik-Leibovich equations. Physica D, 98, 415-441.
7. Hoskins, B. J., 1974: The role of potential vorticity in symmetric stability and instability. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 100, 480-482.
8. Huang, N., 1979: On surface drift currents in the ocean. J. Fluid Mech., 91, 191-208.
9. Leibovich, S., 1977: On the evolution of the system of wind drift currents and Langmuir circulations in the ocean. Part 1. Theory and averaged current. J. Fluid Mech., 79, 715-743.
10. Leibovich, S., 1983: The form and dynamics of Langmuir circulations. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., 15, 391-427.
11. Lewis, D. M., and S. E. Belcher, 2004: Time-dependent, coupled, Ekman boundary layer solutions incorporating Stokes drift. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans, 37, 313-351.
12. Li, M., and C. Garrett, 1995: Is Langmuir circulation driven by surface waves or surface cooling? J. Phys. Oceanogr., 25, 64-76.
13. Li, M., and C. Garrett, 1997: Mixed layer deepening due to Langmuir circulation. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 27, 121-132.
14. Li, M., and C. Garrett, E. Skyllingstad, 2005: A regime diagram for classifying turbulent large eddies in the upper ocean. Deep-Sea Res. I, 52, 259-278.
15. McWilliams, J. C., P. P. Sullivan, and C. Moeng, 1997: Langmuir turbulence in the ocean. J. Fluid Mech., 334, 1-30.
16. Molemaker, M. J., J. C. McWilliams, and I. Yavneh, 2005: Baroclinic instability and loss of balance. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 35, 1505-1517.
17. Munk, W., L. Armi, K. Fischer, and Z. Zachariasen, 2000: Spirals on the sea. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 456A, 1217-1280.
18. Samelson, R. M., and C. A. Paulson, 1988: Towed thermistor chain observations of fronts in the subtropical north Pacific. J. Geophys. Res., 93, 2237-2246.
19. Skyllingstad, E. D., and D. W. Denbo, 1995: An ocean large-eddy simulation of Langmuir circulations and convection in the surface mixed layer. J. Geophys. Res., 100, 8501-8522.
20. Stone, P., 1970: On non-geostrophic baroclinic instability: Part II. J. Atmos. Sci., 27, 721-727.
21. Taylor, J., and R. Ferrari, 2009: On the equilibration of a symmetrically unstable front via a secondary shear instability. J. Fluid Mech., 662, 103-113.
22. Taylor, J., and R. Ferrari, 2010: Buoyancy and wind-driven convection at mixed layer density fronts. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 40, 1222-1242.
23. Thomas, L. N., and P. B. Rhines, 2002: Nonlinear stratified spin-up. J. Fluid Mech., 473, 211-244.
24. Taylor, J.,and R. Ferrari, 2008: Friction, frontogenesis, and the stratification of the surface mixed layer. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 38, 2501-2518.
25. Thorpe, S. A., 2004: Langmuir Circulation. Annu. Rev. FluidMech., 36, 55-79.
26. refethen, L. N., 2000: Spectral Methods in Matlab. SIAM, 184 pp.