Quantifying the Contribution of Mesoscale Eddies to Global Internal Wave‐Driven Turbulent Mixing

Direct observations revealed that internal wave‐driven turbulent mixing is enhanced by oceanic mesoscale eddies. However, the contribution of mesoscale eddies to turbulent mixing on a global scale has been elusive. In this study, we synthesize the Argo‐profile‐based internal wave‐driven turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate () across the global ocean with the corresponding satellite‐altimetry‐based ocean surface mesoscale eddy kinetic energy ( E ), which allows us to determine the quantitative relationship between and E , thereby quantifying mesoscale eddies' contribution to on a global scale in the ocean's subsurface to middle layers (250–2,000 m). Our analysis reveals a nearly linear relationship between and E on logarithmic scales. The sensitivity of to E , characterized by the linear regression coefficient of the linear relationship, is influenced by environmental factors, exhibiting high sensitivity in regions with active near‐inertial winds, low internal tide activity, and weak stratification. These results indicate that mesoscale eddies play a relatively minor role in internal tide‐induced dissipation but a more prominent role in enhancing dissipation associated with near‐inertial waves. Using this relationship, we estimated the contribution of mesoscale eddies to at each Argo location and found that they contribute approximately 18.5% (∼0.036 TW) to the total (∼0.195 TW) in the subsurface to middle layers globally. In regions with high E , the contribution exceeds 50%. These findings provide valuable insights for developing eddy‐involved internal wave‐driven turbulent mixing parameterization schemes in numerical models.