Journal article
Density staircases generated by symmetric instability in a cross‐equatorial deep western boundary current
- Abstract:
- Density staircases are observed in an idealised model of a deep western boundary current upon crossing the equator. We propose that the staircases are generated by the excitement of symmetric instability as the current crosses the equator. The latitude at which symmetric instability is excited can be predicted using simple scaling arguments. Symmetric instability generates overturning cells which, in turn, cause the inhomogenous mixing of waters with different densities. The mixing barriers and well mixed regions in density profiles coincide, respectively, with the boundaries and centres of the overturning cells generated by the symmetric instability. This new mechanism for producing density staircases may require us to re-evaluate the origins of some of the density staircases observed in the Tropical Atlantic.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.3MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1029/2022gl100961
Authors
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Journal:
- Geophysical Research Letters More from this journal
- Volume:
- 49
- Issue:
- 22
- Article number:
- e2022GL100961
- Publication date:
- 2022-11-17
- Acceptance date:
- 2022-11-10
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1944-8007
- ISSN:
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0094-8276
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1304265
- Local pid:
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pubs:1304265
- Deposit date:
-
2022-11-15
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Goldsworth et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2022
- Rights statement:
- © 2022. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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