Tests of a formula derived for the cutoff wave number of vertical temperature gradient spectra, using
data taken in the upper layers of the North Pacific, show encouraging results. To derive this formula, the
cutoff wave number is assumed to be the Batchelor wave number, with kinetic energy dissipation calculated...
Observations of vertical temperature microstructure at ocean station P during the mixed layer experiment (Mile) indicate that the shape of the high-frequency temperature gradient spectrum depends on the relative strengths of turbulence and stratification. For low Cox number ((dT/dz)²)/ (dT/dz)²• the linear range of the Batchelor spectrum is not well...
Slow perturbations of the drop speed of a nearly freely falling, winged, microstructure probe in the upper
200 m at station P are interpreted as vertical velocity fluctuations of an internal wave field. The frequencies of these fluctuations lie in the 2.5- to 4-cph band, near the buoyancy-frequency cutoff. A...
A test of the scaling of the extent of the thinnest vertical temperature gradients, in the near-bottom
boundary layer on the Oregon shelf, shows that the Batchelor wave number determines the cutoff wave
number in vertical temperature gradient spectra. In combination with previous results, in other words,
this test shows...
An inertial subrange was found in spectra calculated from vertical profiles of temperature gradient recorded in the bottom boundary layer of the Oregon shelf. Spectra were calculated for 53-cm vertical segments. An ensemble average of those spectra that were fully resolved and had high Cox number was compared to the...
In a discussion of the turbulence characteristics of patches of 'microstructure' in the ocean, the hypothesis advocated by Gibson (1982), that the patches are produced by very rare but extremely powerful turbulence-generating events which usually have 'fossilized' before their observation, is contrasted with the hypothesis of a turbulence field driven...
Experiments conducted on the Oregon continental shelf in June 1979 indicate that the boundary layer
flow at the seafloor was hydrodynamically smooth. Fine-resolution velocity profiles are used to test the
assumption that the flow behaved like a universally similar, neutrally buoyant flow over a smooth wall.
The non-dimensional thickness of...
In November-December 1984 we carried out an intensive 12-day upper ocean sampling program on
the equator at 140°W as part of the Tropic Heat Experiment. From our observations we constructed
hourly averaged profiles of temperature, salinity, σ₁, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and horizontal
velocity. These data were used to...
Four years ago, we noted that, although there was a widespread belief that the key to many ocean processes must be the communication of energy by internal waves, there had been little progress in definitely relating small‐scale processes to internal waves (Caldwell, 1983a). For example, although it seemed plausible that...
An experiment in 199 m of water on the Oregon shelf produced continuous current speed profiles
down to the sediment-water interface. These profiles show that the velocity structure above the
viscous sublayer is consistent with that expected when form drag influences the boundary layer flow.
They show two logarithmic-profile regions,...