Articles | Volume 21, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-555-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-555-2025
Technical note
 | 
05 Mar 2025
Technical note |  | 05 Mar 2025

Technical note: Spectral slopes in a deep, weakly stratified ocean and coupling between sub-mesoscale motion and small-scale mechanisms

Hans van Haren

Related authors

Technical note: tidal motions in the deep Mediterranean
Hans van Haren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-188,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-188, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Technical note: turbulence demonstrates height variations in closely spaced deep-sea mooring lines
Hans van Haren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-189,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-189, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Stratified-turbulence observations in the deep Mediterranean
Hans van Haren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-190,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-190, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Technical note: Heat-flash travel just above a deep Mediterranean seafloor
Hans van Haren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-195,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-195, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Coupling between sub-mesoscale eddies, internal waves, and turbulence in the deep Mediterranean: A spectral investigation
Hans van Haren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-193,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-193, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary

Cited articles

Abarbanel, H. D. I., Holm, D. D., Marsden, J. E., and Ratiu, T.: Richardson number criterion for the nonlinear stability of three-dimensional stratified flow, Phys. Rev. Lett., 52, 2352–2355, 1984. 
Albérola, C., Millot, C., and Font, J.: On the seasonal and mesoscale variabilities of the Northern Current during the PRIMO-0 experiment in the western Mediterranean Sea, Oceanol. Acta, 18, 163–192, 1995. 
Aldama-Campino A., Fransner F., Ödalen, M., Groeskamp, S., Yool, A. Döös, K., and Nycander, J.: Meridional ocean carbon transport, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 34, e2019GB006336, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006336, 2023. 
Alford, M. H.: Redistribution of energy available for ocean mixing by long-range propagation of internal waves, Nature, 423, 159–162, 2003. 
Ashkenazi, S. and Steinberg, V.: Spectra and statistics of velocity and temperature fluctuations in turbulent convection, Phys. Rev. Lett., 83, 4760–4763, 1999. 
Download
Short summary
Ocean circulations include small-scale processes like transport through sub-mesoscale eddies and turbulence by internal wave breaking. Knowledge is lacking on the interaction between the different processes. In deep, weakly stratified waters, continuous spectral slopes are observed that extend from sub-mesoscales across the internal wave band to the turbulence range. Such correspondence is suggested as being a potential feedback mechanism stabilizing large-scale ocean circulations.
Share