Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea

Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of similar to 20 km. This intrusion was characterized by complex thermohaline structure in which warm Pacific Summer Water interleaved in alternating layers of O(1) m thickness with cooler water, due to lateral stirring and intrusive processes. Along interfaces between warm/salty and cold/freshwater masses, the density ratio was favorable to double-diffusive processes. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (epsilon) was elevated along the interleaving surfaces, with values up to 3 3 10(-8) W kg(-1) compared to background epsilon of less than 10(-9) W kg(-1). Based on the distribution of epsilon as a function of density ratio R-rho, we conclude that double-diffusive convection is largely responsible for the elevated epsilon observed over the survey. The lateral processes that created the layered thermohaline structure resulted in vertical thermohaline gradients susceptible to double-diffusive convection, resulting in upward vertical heat fluxes. Bulk vertical heat fluxes above the intrusion are estimated in the range of 0.2-1 W m(-2), with the localized flux above the uppermost warm layer elevated to 2-10 W m(-2). Lateral fluxes are much larger, estimated between 1000 and 5000 W m(-2), and set an overall decay rate for the intrusion of 1-5 years.

Automated summary

In this study, the concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing on the heat and salt structure in the ocean are examined through the observation of Pacific Summer Water intrusions. It is found that lateral processes create layered thermohaline structures, resulting in vertical thermohaline gradients and upward vertical heat fluxes. The analysis of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate suggests that double-diffusive convection is the main cause of the elevated turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate.