Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current.

摘要: The overturning circulation of the global ocean is critically shaped by deep-ocean mixing, which transforms cold waters sinking at high latitudes into warmer, shallower waters. effectiveness mixing in driving this transformation jointly set two factors: intensity turbulence near topography and rate well-mixed boundary are exchanged with stratified interior. Here, we use innovative observations a major branch circulation—an abyssal current Southern Ocean—to identify previously undocumented mechanism, efficiently laundered through intensified near-boundary boundary–interior exchange. linchpin mechanism generation submesoscale dynamical instabilities flow along steep topographic boundary. As conditions conducive to mode common many currents, our findings highlight an imperative for its representation models oceanic overturning.