INFLUENCE OF BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY ROUGHNESS ON THE JET AND INERTIAL RECIRCULATION OF A MIDLATITUDE GYRE

Several numerical experiments are conducted to examine the influence of mesoscale, bottom topography roughness on the inertial circulation of a wind-driven, mid-latitude ocean gyre. The ocean model is based on the quasi-geostrophic formulation, and is eddy-resolving as it features high vertical and horizontal resolutions (six layers and a 10 km grid). An antisymmetrical double-gyre wind stress curl forces the baroclinic modes and generates a strong surface jet. In the case of a flat bottom, inertia and inverse energy cascade force the barotropic mode, and the resulting circulation features strong, barotropic, inertial gyres. The sea-floor roughness inhibits the inertial circulation in the deep layers; the barotropic component of the flow is then forced by eddy-topography interactions, and its energy concentrates at the scales of the topography. As a result, the baroclinicity of the flow is intensified: the barotropic mode is reduced with regard to the baroclinic modes, and the bottom flow (constrained by the mesoscale sea-floor roughness) is decoupled from the surface flow (forced by the gyre-scale wind). Rectified, mesoscale bottom circulation induces an interfacial form stress at the thermocline, which enhances horizontal shear instability and opposes the eastward penetration of the jet. The mean jet is consequently shortened, but the instantaneous jet remains very turbulent, with meanders of large meridional extent. The sea-floor roughness modifies the energy pathways, and the eddies have an even more important role in the establishment of the mean circulation: below the thermocline, rectification processes are dominant, and eddies transfer energy toward permanent mesoscale circulations strongly correlated with topography, whereas above the thermocline mean flow and eddy generation are influenced by the mean bottom circulation through interfacial stress. The topography modifies the vorticity of the barotropic and highest baroclinic modes. Vorticity accumulates at the small topographic scales, and the vorticity content of the highest modes, which is very weak in the flat-bottom case, increases significantly. Few changes occur in surface-intensified modes. In the deep layers of the model, the inverse correlation between relative vorticity and topography at small scales ensures the homogenization of the potential vorticity, which mainly retains the largest scales of the bottom flow and the scale of beta.