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SUMMARY:What is the role of staircase and staircase-like structures in set
 ting heat and buoyancy fluxes from the Atlantic Water layer on a pan-Arcti
 c scale? - Stephanie Waterman (University of British Columbia)
DTSTART:20240522T103000Z
DTEND:20240522T110000Z
UID:TALK215773@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:Stephanie Waterman1\, Hayley Dosser2\, Melanie Chanona1\, Nico
 le Shibley3 and Mary-Louise Timmermans4\n1The University of British Columb
 ia\; 2Institute of Ocean Sciences\; 3Princeton University\; 4Yale Universi
 ty\nQuantifying ocean mixing rates in the Arctic Ocean is critical to our 
 ability to understand upwards oceanic heat flux\, freshwater distribution\
 , and circulation. The presence of sea ice\, the high latitude\, and disti
 nct density stratification structure\, with warm water underlying cooler w
 ater\, all make the Arctic Ocean mixing environment unique: the Arctic Oce
 an exhibits a variety of mixing processes as a consequence. Low turbulence
  levels in the deep basins allow for the persistence of double-diffusive s
 taircases in the upper Atlantic Water thermocline\; double-diffusive fluxe
 s associated with these staircases are the main mechanism for vertical hea
 t transport from the warm Atlantic Water where and when staircases are pre
 sent. Further\, double diffusive fluxes associated with staircase structur
 es make a unique contribution to the competition between mixing and strati
 fication\, owing to their tendency to flux buoyancy up-gradient and re-str
 atify the water column. In this way\, they may be a critical mechanism to 
 maintain the Atlantic Water thermocline stratification.\nIn this work\, we
  use year-round observations from Ice-Tethered Profilers and an archived r
 ecord of ship-based measurements to: 1. characterize the prevalence of sel
 ect mixing regimes\, including double diffusion\, internal wave breaking a
 nd non-turbulent mixing processes\, in the Atlantic Water thermocline on a
  pan-Arctic scale\; and 2. quantify the relative contribution of select mi
 xing regimes to net heat and buoyancy transports from the Atlantic Water l
 ayer. Our results detail important regional differences in the prevalence 
 of different mixing regimes and the significance of their relative contrib
 utions. Further\, they highlight the tight competition between the de-stra
 tifying effects of internal wave-driven mixing and the re-stratifying effe
 cts of double diffusion in the Amerasian Basin. Finally\, they expose an i
 mportant need to better understand mixing in the so-called transitional re
 gime\, a regime in which staircase-like features are partially-formed\, di
 srupted\, or eroded\, to obtain a full description of the mixing of Atlant
 ic Water heat and buoyancy.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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