Title: Wind Power on Oceanic Near‐Inertial Oscillations in the Global Ocean Estimated from Surface Drifters.

Journal: Geophysical Research Letters, 46, doi: 10.1029/2018GL081712.

Authors: LIU Y. -Z., Z. Jing*, and L. -X. Wu

Abstract: Wind power on oceanic near‐inertial oscillations is thought to play an important role in furnishing the diapycnal mixing in the ocean. Yet their global distribution and magnitude have not been quantified based on observations. In this study, we use hourly ocean current records derived from surface drifters to compute the global near‐inertial wind power during 1993–2016, with a combination of surface wind measurements obtained from satellites. The climatological near‐inertial wind power integrated between 60°S and 60°N is estimated to be 0.3–0.6 TW. The strongest energy flux occurs in the 30–60° latitude band during the winter season as a result of energetic storm activities. Ocean current imprint on wind stress has a significant impact on the estimated global near‐inertial wind power from drifters. Neglecting this imprint overestimates the near‐inertial wind power locally by 25–120% and its global mean value by 60%.