Comprehensive observations of velocity, density, and
turbulent dissipation permit quantification of the nonlinear
internal wave (NLIW) contribution to vertical heat flux and
lateral mass transport over New Jersey’s shelf. The effect of
NLIWs on the shelf heat budget was significant. On
average, heat flux in NLIWs was 10 times larger...
The conventional view of equatorial dynamics requires that the zonal equatorial wind stress be balanced, in the mean, by the vertical integral of “large-scale” terms, such as the zonal pressure gradient, mesoscale eddy flux, and mean advection, over the upper few hundred meters. It is usually presumed that the surface...
Ship and mooring data collected off the coast of New Jersey are used to describe the nonlinear internal wave (NLIW) field and the background oceanographic conditions that formed the waveguide on the shelf. The subinertial, inertial, and tidal circulation are described in detail, and the background fluid state is characterized...
A freely rising profiler was used to collect vertical microstructure profiles in the upper oceanic boundary layer under various atmospheric and sea conditions. Near the sea surface, the rate of viscous dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy, ϵ, exhibited a range of behaviors under different forcing conditions. Sometimes, ϵ was closely...
Clear identification of the relatively weak superadiabatic potential temperature gradient in the ocean surface layer during convection has been made with the help of intensive vertical profiling measurements at an open-ocean site. In the surface layer the superadiabatic gradient, with a mean value of −1.8 × 10⁻⁴ K m⁻¹, was...
A detailed investigation of the upper ocean during convection reveals
1.
• the vertical structure of potential temperature, θ, to be steady in time, and
2.
• the current shear to vanish in the bulk of the mixed layer.
These imply that a “slab”-type model may be an adequate representation...
The authors report direct measurements of density flux at a single depth in a turbulent tidal flow, made by towing a CTD beside the vertical beam of a modified acoustic Doppler current profiler. The direct flux estimates are compared with indirect estimates of density flux based on simultaneous microscale profiler...
The decay of a downward propagating near-inertial wave was observed over four days. During this short period, the energy of the near-inertial wave decreased by 70%. The shear layers produced by the wave were regions of enhanced turbulent dissipation rates. The authors estimate that 44% of the observed change in...
A 3°N to 3°S transect of the equator at 140°15'W was made in November 1984. Vertical profiles of temperature, conductivity and turbulent dissipation were obtained at approximately 1 km intervals. Contrary to previous results, we found no obvious peak in dissipation either at the equator or clearly associated with the...
In the low Richardson number shear flow above the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent, a single vertical microstructure profile intersected the overturning crest of a packet of high horizontal wavenumber waves. The observed dissipation rates within the overturning wave were so high that if they were representative of the volume-averaged rate, the...