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...
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 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...