MILDEX, a mixed layer dynamics experiment, began
October 21, 1983 and lasted until November 16, 1983.
R.P. Flip, R.V. Wecoma and R.V. Acania rendezvoused at
34° N, 127° W to participate in joint observations of
the mixed layer and upper ocean. This report contains
data from the WAve Zone Profiler,...
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...
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...
Our component of the TROPIC HEAT 1987 experiment was
designed to investigate a number of questions raised by our
TROPIC HEAT 1984 measurements (Park et al, 1985; Mourn and
Caldwell, 1985; Mourn et al, 1986; Chereskin et al, 1986; Mourn et
al; 1987). In particular, the goals of LEG 2...
As shallow water is approached via a steep lake-bottom slope, increased mixing of heat is indicated by the presence of a highly “stepped” temperature profile. This mixing activity operates over a wide range of vertical scales.
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...
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...
From a comprehensive set of upper ocean measurements made during a moderate El Niño in boreal spring 1987, we reassess the role of turbulence in transporting momentum vertically at the equator. An examination of the terms in the vertically integrated zonal momentum equations indicates that on short time scales the...