The energy conversion rates from eddies and mean flow into internal lee waves in the global ocean

Internal lee waves play an important role in transferring energy from eddies to small scale mixing. However, the energy conversion from eddies into lee waves in the global ocean remains poorly understood. Conversion rates from eddies and from mean flow in the global ocean were differentiated using single beam sounding data, stratification from climatology, eddy velocity, and mean flow from a global ocean model. The global integral energy conversion from eddies is estimated to be 0.083 TW and is almost twice as that from the mean flow. A new method was developed to study the uncertainties of energy conversion caused by dealing with the topographic data. Results show that different data processing procedures, and the resolution and accuracy of topographic data have a significant impact on the estimated global energy conversion.