Turbulent Mixing in Oceanic Surface and Benthic Boundary Layers.
Abstract
A comprehensive research program was carried out to investigate turbulence, waves and mixing in oceanic surface and benthic boundary layers, with special emphases on the generation, sustenance, diffusion and decay of turbulence in such layers. The research was mainly laboratory experimental supplemented by analytical and numerical developments. The penetration of a shear-generated turbulent layer into a stably stratified non-turbulent layer, with applications to the oceanic surface-layer deepening, was the theme of the first part of the research program; the rate of turbulent-layer propagation, energetics, diffusion of mass, momentum and turbulent kinetic energy and small scale processes were the studied in detail. The applicability of results to oceanic situations, especially for surface-layer modeling, was also evaluated. The second part of the investigation dealt with oscillatory, surface-wave boundary layers, mimicked in the laboratory by an oscillatory bed underlying either a quiescent fluid layer or a mean current. The aim was to measure the diffusivities of momentum, mass and turbulent kinetic energy in such layers and to use the results to verify commonly used parameterizations in predictive models for coastal oceans.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 09, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA356473
Entities
People
- Harindra J. S. Fernando
Organizations
- Arizona Board of Regents