Effect of Langmuir circulation on upper ocean mixing in the South China Sea

Effect of Langmuir circulation (LC) on upper ocean mixing is investigated by a two-way wave-current coupled-model. The model is coupled of the ocean circulation model ROMS (regional ocean modeling system) to the surface wave model SWAN (simulating waves near shore) via the model-coupling toolkit. The LC already certified its importance by many one-dimensional (1D) research and mechanism analysis work. This work focuses on inducing LC’s effect in a three-dimensional (3-D) model and applying it to real field modeling. In ROMS, the Mellor-Yamada turbulence closure mixing scheme is modified by including LC’s effect. The SWAN imports bathymetry, free surface and current information from the ROMS while exports significant wave parameters to the ROMS for Stokes wave computing every 6 s. This coupled model is applied to the South China Sea (SCS) during September 2008 cruise. The results show that LC increasing turbulence and deepening mixed layer depth (MLD) at order of O (10 m) in most of the areas, especially in the north part of SCS where most of our measurements operated. The coupled model further includes wave breaking which will brings more energy into water. When LC works together with wave breaking, more energy is transferred into deep layer and accelerates the MLD deepening. In the north part of the SCS, their effects are more obvious. This is consistent with big wind event in the area of the Zhujiang River Delta. The shallow water depth as another reason makes them easy to influence the ocean mixing as well.