Dissipation of Synoptic-Scale Flow by Small-Scale Turbulence

Although it is now accepted that imbalance in the atmosphere and ocean is generic, the feedback of the unbalanced motion on the balanced flow has not received much attention. In this work the parameterization problem is examined in the context of rotating stratified turbulence, that is, with a nonhydrostatic Boussinesq model. Using the normal modes as a first approximation to the balanced and unbalanced flow, the growth of ageostrophic perturbations to the quasigeostrophic flow and the associated feedback are studied. For weak stratification, there are analogies with the three-dimensionalization of decaying 2D turbulence: the growth rate of the ageostrophic perturbation follows a linear estimate, geostrophic energy is extracted from the base flow, and the associated damping on the geostrophic base flow (the “eddy viscosity”) is peaked at large horizontal scales. For strong stratification, the transfer spectra and eddy viscosities maintain this structure if there is synoptic-scale motion and the buoyancy scale is adequately resolved. This has been confirmed for global Rossby and Froude numbers of O(0.1). Implications for atmospheric and oceanic modeling are discussed.