Turbulent mixing from breaking oceanic internal waves drives a vertical transport of water, heat and other climatically important tracers in the ocean, thereby playing an important role in shaping the circulation and distributions of heat and carbon within the climate system. However, linking internal wave-driven mixing to its impacts on climate poses a formidable challenge, since it requires understanding of the complex life cycle of internal waves — including generation, propagation and breaking into turbulence — and knowledge of the spatio-temporal variability of these processes in the diverse, rapidly evolving oceanic environment. In this Review, we trace the energy pathways from tides, winds and geostrophic currents to internal wave mixing, connecting this mixing with the global climate system. Additionally, we discuss avenues for future work, including understanding energy transfer processes within the internal wave field, how internal waves can be modified by background currents and how internal wave mixing is integrated within the global climate system.

内波驱动的混合：调制过程和对气候的影响

中文摘要：来自破碎的海洋内波的湍流混合驱动着海洋中水、热和其他具有重要气候意义的示踪物的垂直传输，从而在塑造气候系统内的热量和碳的循环和分布方面发挥着重要作用。然而，将内波驱动的混合与其对气候的影响联系起来是一项艰巨的挑战，因为这需要了解内波的复杂生命周期--包括产生、传播和破碎成湍流--以及了解这些过程在多样化、快速演变的海洋环境中的时空变化。在这篇综述中，我们回顾了从潮汐、风和地转海流到内波混合的能量途径，将这种混合与全球气候系统联系起来。此外，我们还讨论了未来工作的途径，包括了解内波场内的能量转移过程，内波如何被背景海流改变，以及内波混合如何被纳入全球气候系统。