UC San Diego

Winds and tides force oceanic motion at many different scales from basin scale overturning to centimeter scale turbulence. The physical mechanisms that transfer kinetic energy and momentum between these scales allow the global climate to be influenced by processes that are too small to be resolved by models. Understanding the physics behind these transfers of energy and momentum holds the key to parameterizing their impact in models. Observations allow us to understand the physics on a deeper level, and continue to see the ocean from new perspectives as technology evolves. This thesis uses observations to illuminate the physical mechanisms by which internal wave breaking transfers energy and momentum between scales, and the human mechanisms that allow those observations to exist. In Chapter 1 we use observations to show the pathway of kinetic energy cascade from internal tides to turbulence in frequency-space. Chapter 2 presents observations and ray tracing of near-inertial wave propagation and breaking, contributing a momentum drag to the Gulf Stream. In Chapter 3 we present a novel design for the turbulence sensing shear probe which will make ocean turbulence sensing more durable and a better candidate for large-scale observational programs. Finally, in Chapter 4 we analyze 10 years of grant abstracts to unpack the language that researchers in this field use to describe their work to funding agencies, and how that rhetoric shapes the field itself.