THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO COMBINE AN EXISTING COMPREHENSIVE MICROSTRUCTURE DATASET CONTAINING MULTIPLE YEAR-LONG MOORED TIME SERIES AND BASIN-WIDE SURVEYS OF THE DISSIPATION OF TEMPERATURE VARIANCE CHI AND TURBULENT THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY K_T WITH THE ECCO V4 STATE ESTIMATE TO INFER IN-SITU EDDY DIFFUSIVITY K_E. K_T DESCRIBES THE STIRRING OF LOCAL GRADIENTS BY ISOTROPIC TURBULENT MOTIONS AND IS ROUTINELY DERIVED FROM MICROSTRUCTURE MEASUREMENTS. K_E DESCRIBES THE STIRRING OF LARGE-SCALE GRADIENTS BY (PRIMARILY) MESOSCALE MOTIONS. THE INFERRED IN-SITU K_E WILL BE COMPARED TO ESTIMATES DERIVED FROM SATELLITE ALTIMETRY PROVIDING A MEANS TO 1) INDEPENDENTLY VALIDATE NEAR-SURFACE ALTIMETER-DERIVED EDDY DIFFUSIVITIES AND 2) DETERMINE METHODS OF EXTRAPOLATING SURFACE-BASED ESTIMATES OF K_E TO DEPTH. THIS PROPOSAL ANSWERS THE CALL TO "EXPAND OUR TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL ESTIMATES OF OCEAN MIXING".

University Corporation For Atmospheric Research

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