Abstract
<jats:p>Ocean mesoscale plays a critical role in maintaining the global circulation, draining wind input energy. However, the pathways via which the mesoscale energy is dissipated remain poorly constrained. Previous observational studies indicate that bottom drag dissipation is likely the primary energy sink. However, their estimates of its magnitude vary widely because they apply simplified ocean vertical structures to satellite altimetry and bottom current meters to predict near-bottom flow. This study circumvents these limitations by combining satellite and Argo float measurements with empirical orthogonal function-based vertical structures to constrain the bottom drag dissipation. Our approach yields a global estimate of 0.187 TW, with a narrow 95% confidence interval [0.162,0.217], that is much weaker than the ~ 1 TW of global wind work input to the general circulation. These findings indicate either that there is a ``missing sink' of mesoscale energy that remains to be identified, or that widely-used drag coefficients are underestimated.</jats:p>