The Internal-Tide Mixing Budget: Does the Tide Supply the Power the Abyssal Ocean Needs?

Rebuilding both sides of the abyssal mixing budget from stated numbers: the Osborn relation gives a required power of 2.05 TW (plausible bracket 1.02-3.80 TW); summed internal-tide generation over eleven rough-topography regions gives 1.02 TW centrally, 0.71 TW effective in the deep ocean. Total closure with wind near-inertial and geothermal terms is 0.44 at central values, leaving a 1.15 TW residual. AI use is disclosed: this paper was drafted and computed with the assistance of Dave, an AI system, under the direction of the author.