An ocean large‐eddy simulation of Langmuir circulations and convection in the surface mixed layer

Abstract

Numerical experiments were performed using a three‐dimensional large‐eddy simulation model of the ocean surface mixed layer that includes the Craik‐Leibovich vortex force [Craik 1977; Leibovich 1977] to parameterize the interaction of surface waves with mean currents. Results from the experiments show that the vortex force generates Langmuir circulations that can dominate vertical mixing. The simulated vertical velocity fields show linear, small‐scale, coherent structures near the surface that extend downwind across the model domain. In the interior of the mixed layer, scales of motion increase to eddy sizes that are roughly equivalent to the mixed‐layer depth. Cases with the vortex force have stronger circulations near the surface in contrast to cases with only heat flux and wind stress, particularly when the heat flux is positive. Calculations of the velocity variance and turbulence dissipation rates for cases with and without the vortex force, surface cooling, and wind stress indicate that wave‐current interactions are a dominant mixing process in the upper mixed layer. Heat flux calculations show that the entrainment rate at the mixed‐layer base can be up to two times greater when the vortex force is included. In a case with reduced wind stress, turbulence dissipation rates remained high near the surface because of the vortex force interaction with preexisting inertial currents. In deep mixed layers (∼250 m) the simulations show that Langmuir circulations can vertically transport water 145 m during conditions of surface heating. Observations of turbulence dissipation rates and the vertical temperature structure support the model results.