Temperature, salinity, sigma-t and dissipation profiles from the Rapid Sampling Vertical Profiler for six transects as part of the Coastal Transition zone pilot experiment, June 1987.
Packets of nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) in a small area of the Mid-Atlantic Bight were 10 times more energetic during a local neap tide than during the preceding spring tide. This counterintuitive result cannot be explained if the waves are generated near the shelf break by the local barotropic tide...
Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability, characterized by the distinctive finite-amplitude billows it generates, is an important mechanism in the development of turbulence in the stratified interior of the ocean. In particular, it is often assumed that the onset of turbulence in internal waves begins in this way. Clear recognition of the importance...
Preliminary results are presented from an analysis of mid-frequency acoustic transmission data collected at range 550m during the Shallow Water 2006 Experiment. The acoustic data were collected on a vertical array immediately before, during, and after the passage of a nonlinear internal wave on 18 August, 2006. Using oceanographic data...
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...
From measurements of the energy‐containing scales of turbulence in the ocean thermocline, two new formulations are examined: (1) an inviscid estimate for the viscous dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy and (2) a mixing length estimate for the turbulent heat flux. These formulations are tested using coincident measurements of the...
Turbulent bottom Ekman layers are among the most important energy conversion sites in the ocean. Their energetics are notoriously complex, in particular near sloping topography, where the feedback between cross-slope Ekman transports, buoyancy forcing, and mixing affects the energy budget in ways that are not well understood. Here, the authors...
Oceanic density overturns are commonly used to parameterize the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy. This method assumes a linear scaling between the Thorpe length scale L[subscript]T and the Ozmidov length scale L[subscript]O. Historic evidence supporting L[subscript]T ~ L[subscript]O has been shown for relatively weak shear-driven turbulence of the thermocline;...
A low-power (<10 mW), physically small (15.6 cm long × 3.2 cm diameter), lightweight (600 g Cu; alternatively, 200 g Al), robust, and simply calibrated pitot-static tube to measure mean speed and turbulence dissipation (ε ) is described and evaluated. The measurement of speed is derived from differential pressure via...
Internal gravity waves, the subsurface analogue of the familiar
surface gravity waves that break on beaches, are ubiquitous in
the ocean. Because of their strong vertical and horizontal currents,
and the turbulent mixing caused by their breaking, they affect a
panoply of ocean processes, such as the supply of nutrients...