Talk Abstract:
Small-scale turbulent mixing in the ocean interior is believed to play an important role in the ocean circulation and the tracer distributions within. However, the extent to which the fluid dynamical subtleties of mixing impact the climate system, remains poorly quantified. Building on a number of case studies, in this talk, I will argue that on annual to millennial timescales, small-scale mixing is of leading-order importance for the ocean meridional overturning circulation (MOC), its internal variability, and tracer budgets such as that of heat and carbon. I will argue that the ability to adequately represent such mixing is absent in Earth System Models (ESMs) and provide some perspectives on how progress may be made.
All seminars this quarter will be in a hybrid format.