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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Ocean Science

Diapycnal mixing in submesoscale-permitting simulations of the deep Brazil Basin

  • Yonglin Huang1
  • Annalisa Bracco2
  • Kurt Polzin
  • Jonathan Gula
  1. 1Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, United States of America)
  2. 2CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (Lecce, Italy)
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Abstract

Modeling diapycnal mixing in the deep ocean is challenging, particularly in regions with complex topography. Here we diagnose the relative roles of sub-inertial motions and tidal forcing focusing on the deep Brazil Basin in simulations using a hydrostatic, high-resolution regional model (CROCO) at 1, 3 and 6 km horizontal resolution, in presence or absence of tides. Tracer particles are released at multiple depths to investigate the variability of modeled mixing estimates. Horizontal resolution exerts the primary control on diapycnal mixing, while tidal forcing plays a secondary and resolution-dependent role. Increasing resolution significantly increases the number and intensity of eddies and enhances diapycnal mixing across the water column, from the bottom to at least 3000 m. The comparison with the in-situ observations indicates that the simulated diffusivities near the bottom boundary layer are comparable in value to observational estimates in the 1 and 3 km cases and too small in the 6 km run. However, diffusivities in the stratified interior are overestimated and the model-observation discrepancy grows for increasing resolution. At submesoscale-permitting resolutions, due to bathymetric smoothing, high-mode internal tides remain significantly underestimated, while submesoscale eddy-driven motions are overrepresented, leading to the biased estimate of diapycnal mixing.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{huang2026diapycnal,
  title = {{Diapycnal mixing in submesoscale-permitting simulations of the deep Brazil Basin}},
  author = {Yonglin Huang and Annalisa Bracco and Kurt Polzin and Jonathan Gula},
  journal = {Ocean Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.5194/os-22-3415-2026},
  url = {https://os.copernicus.org/articles/22/3415/2026/},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Diapycnal mixing in submesoscale-permitting simulations of the deep Brazil Basin
AU  - Yonglin Huang
AU  - Annalisa Bracco
AU  - Kurt Polzin
AU  - Jonathan Gula
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - Ocean Science
DO  - 10.5194/os-22-3415-2026
UR  - https://os.copernicus.org/articles/22/3415/2026/
AB  - Modeling diapycnal mixing in the deep ocean is challenging, particularly in regions with complex topography. Here we diagnose the relative roles of sub-inertial motions and tidal forcing focusing on the deep Brazil Basin in simulations using a hydrostatic, high-resolution regional model (CROCO) at 1, 3 and 6 km horizontal resolution, in presence or absence of tides. Tracer particles are released at multiple depths to investigate the variability of modeled mixing estimates. Horizontal resolution exerts the primary control on diapycnal mixing, while tidal forcing plays a secondary and resolution-dependent role. Increasing resolution significantly increases the number and intensity of eddies and enhances diapycnal mixing across the water column, from the bottom to at least 3000 m. The comparison with the in-situ observations indicates that the simulated diffusivities near the bottom boundary layer are comparable in value to observational estimates in the 1 and 3 km cases and too small in the 6 km run. However, diffusivities in the stratified interior are overestimated and the model-observation discrepancy grows for increasing resolution. At submesoscale-permitting resolutions, due to bathymetric smoothing, high-mode internal tides remain significantly underestimated, while submesoscale eddy-driven motions are overrepresented, leading to the biased estimate of diapycnal mixing.
SN  - 1812-0792
ER  -