Ocean mixing is currently a focus in oceanography because it impacts the climatically important oceanic overturning circulation. Here we argue that the marine biosphere, by a mechanism akin to the bioturbation normally recognized in marine sediments, appears to contribute to mixing energy at a rate comparable to the winds and tides.

Dr. Dewar received a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the M.I.T.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Joint Program. He currently holds the position of the Pierre Welander Professor of Oceanography at Florida State University. His research interests are directed toward understanding the dynamics of the ocean at scales from 100 km to 10,000 km, or equivalently from the deformation scale to the basin scale. Phenomena at these scales exhibit several different behaviors, from completely free evolution to directly forced evolution, and have a number of interesting characteristics.

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