Development of a Two-Equation Turbulence Model for Mean Shear- and Internal Wave-Driven Mixing
Abstract
The long-term goal of the project is to develop realistic, functional parameterizations of stratified turbulent mixing usable in numerical circulation models of oceans and costal seas. Specifically, we aim at developing models which explicitly allow for the coexistence and three-way interaction of three major components of stratified geophysical flows: "mean" currents, internal inertia gravity waves (IGW) and small-scale, 3D turbulence. Here, "mean" loosely refers to any current that - in contrast to IGWs and turbulence - can be explicitly resolved in a variety of operational numerical models. Traditional turbulence closures, which our approach extends, only acknowledge the existence of two of the three flow components, turbulence and sheared mean currents. They are thus ignorant of the direct energy flux from "breaking" IGWs to turbulence. As to its importance, we note that this direct energy flux from IGWs powers the turbulent mixing in the bulk of the depths of the world ocean.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA542572
Entities
People
- Hartmut Peters