Connecting mixing to upwelling along the ocean's sloping boundary

Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6071-605X; Spingys, Carl P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-3047; Castro, Bieito Fernández ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7797-854X; Couto, Nicole ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5330-9592; Drake, Henri F.; Forryan, Alexander; Gao, Zhiyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2726-7664; Ma, Yuchen; Mercier, Herlé ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1940-617X; Messias, Marie‐José; Ruan, Xiaozhou ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1240-1584; Voet, Gunnar ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1975-186X; Wynne‐Cattanach, Bethan L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4960-2419; Ferrari, Raffaele ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1895-4294; Alford, Matthew H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6318-0737. 2025 Connecting mixing to upwelling along the ocean's sloping boundary. Geophysical Research Letters, 52 (22). 10.1029/2025GL119186

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Text © 2025. The Author(s).This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Geophysical Research Letters - 2025 - Naveira Garabato - Connecting Mixing to Upwelling Along the Ocean s Sloping Boundary.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Deep-ocean upwelling, driven by small-scale turbulence, plays a key role in climate by regulating the ocean's capacity to sequester heat and carbon. Recent theoretical studies have hypothesized that such upwelling may primarily occur within a bottom boundary layer (BBL) along the sloping seafloor. A dye experiment in a continental-slope canyon during the BLT-Recipes program revealed very rapid BBL-focussed upwelling, endorsing this notion. Here, we elucidate the dynamical connection between the mixing and the upwelling. We show that along-canyon upwelling stems from episodic turbulent mixing cells up to 250 m high, generated by tides sweeping up- and down-canyon. The tidal currents support a vertical shear that periodically advects dense waters over slower-flowing lighter waters, reducing BBL stratification. This triggers instabilities that mix the dense waters with neighboring lighter waters, resulting in net along-boundary upwelling. Our findings substantiate the view that deep-ocean upwelling can predominantly occur along the ocean's sloping boundaries.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1029/2025GL119186
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	ocean mixing, upwelling, bottom boundary layer, submarine canyons, internal tides
NORA Subject Terms:	Marine Sciences
Date made live:	03 Dec 2025 18:05 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/540689

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