As a quantitative test of moored mixing measurements using [subscript χ]pods, a comparison experiment was conducted at 0°, 140°W in October–November 2008. The following three measurement elements were involved: (i) NOAA’s Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) mooring with five [subscript χ]pods, (ii) a similar mooring 9 km away with seven [subscript...
Winter stratification on Oregon’s continental shelf often produces a near-bottom layer of dense fluid that acts as an internal waveguide upon which nonlinear internal waves propagate. Shipboard profiling and bottom lander observations capture disturbances that exhibit properties of internal solitary waves, bores, and gravity currents. Wavelike pulses are highly turbulent...
Closely spaced vertical profiles through the bottom boundary layer over a sloping continental shelf during relaxation from coastal upwelling reveal structure that is consistent with convectively driven mixing. Parcels of fluid were observed adjacent to the bottom that were warm (by several millikelvin) relative to fluid immediately above. On average,...
Barotropic tidal currents flowing over rough topography may be slowed by two bottom boundary–related processes: tangential stress of the bottom boundary layer, which is generally well represented by a quadratic drag law, and normal stress from bottom pressure, known as form drag. Form drag is rarely estimated from oceanic observations...