Deep ocean influence on upper ocean baroclinic instability saturation

Abstract

In this paper we extend earlier results regarding the effects of the lower layer of the ocean (below the thermocline) on the baroclinic instability within the upper layer (above the thermocline). We confront quasigeostrophic baroclinic instability properties of a 2.5-layer model with those of a 3-layer model with a very thick deep layer, which has been shown to predict spectral instability for basic state parameters for which the 2.5-layer model predicts nonlinear stability. We compute and compare maximum normal-mode perturbation growth rates, as well as rigorous upper bounds on the nonlinear growth of perturbations to unstable basic states, paying particular attention to the region of basic state parameters where the stability properties of the 2.5- and 3-layer model differ substantially. We found that normal-mode perturbation growth rates in the 3-layer model tend to maximize in this region. We also found that the size of state space available for eddy-amplitude growth tends to minimize in this same region. Moreover, we found that for a large spread of parameter values in this region the latter size reduces to only a small fraction of the total enstrophy of the system, thereby allowing us to make assessments of the significance of the instabilities.