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...
A 38-day, 5990-cast microstructure study on the equator performed
during the onset of the 1991-1993 El Nino shows the effect on small-scale activity
at 140°W of an equatorial Kelvin wave. By using two ships, data were taken
continuously from November 4 to December 12, 1991, near the National Oceanic
and...
An integrated analysis of turbulence observations from four unique instrument platforms obtained over
the Hawaiian Ridge leads to an assessment of the vertical, cross-ridge, and along-ridge structure of turbulence
dissipation rate and diffusivity. The diffusivity near the seafloor was, on average, 15 times that in the
midwater column. At 1000-m...
Measurements of currents and turbulence beneath a geostationary ship in the equatorial Indian Ocean during a period of weak surface forcing revealed unexpectedly strong turbulence beneath the surface mixed layer. Coincident with the turbulence was a marked reduction of the current speeds registered by shipboard Doppler current profilers, and an...
A new method is presented for estimating the vertical turbulent heat flux at the bottom of the daily mixed layer from the temperature data in the mixed layer and net solar irradiance data at the sea surface. We assume that fluctuations in the divergence of advective heat flux have longer...
The life cycles of three Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) events were observed over the Indian Ocean as part of the Dynamics of the MJO (DYNAMO) experiment. During November 2011 near 0°, 80°E, the site of the research vessel Roger Revelle, the authors observed intense multiscale interactions within an MJO convective envelope,...
Twelve days of microstructure measurements at the equator (140°W) in November 1984 showed a
surprisingly strong effect of both the daily cycle of solar heating and wind on mixing in the upper ocean.
Because of limited variations in atmospheric forcing and currents during the experiment, processes in the
daily mixing...
As currents flow over rough topography, the pressure difference between the up-and downstream sides results in form drag-a force that opposes the flow. Measuring form drag is valuable because it can be used to estimate the loss of energy from currents as they interact with topography. An array of bottom...
Direct determination of the irreversible turbulent flux of salinity in the ocean has not been possible because of the complexity of measuring salinity on the smallest scales over which it mixes. Presented is an analysis of turbulent salinity microstructure from measurements using a combined fast-conductivity/temperature probe on a slowly falling...
A westerly wind burst observed in the warm pool of the western equatorial Pacific Ocean cooled the ocean's surface layer by about 0.8°C. Turbulent entrainment at the base of this layer caused cooling but also heating due to the reversal of the vertical temperature gradient during rain events. Consequently, the...