Coastal and Near Surface Mixing

Abstract

We are using a unique towed vehicle that carries both conventional turbulence sensors and acoustic transducers. Turbulent vertical velocity fluctuations and the rate of dissipation of kinetic energy are measured with shear probes, while temperature fluctuations as small as 0.00001 C are measured with an FP-07 thermistor. The vertical flux of heat is estimated from the covariance of the turbulent vertical velocity and temperature. The rate of dissipation is estimated from the variance of the horizontal gradient of vertical velocity. Sonars (two athwartship direct side-scans, one forward directed side-scan and a vertical echo sounder) mounted on the towed vehicle are used to map out the distribution of turbulence with respect to bubble clouds (hence, Langmuir cells) in the near surface zone. A paravane deflects the tow line by about 40 m away from the side of the ship and out of its wake.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1997
Accession Number
ADA633930

Entities

People

  • Rolf Lueck

Organizations

  • University of Victoria

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
  • Autonomous Vehicles
  • Boundary Layer
  • Dissipation
  • Heat Flux
  • Instrumentation
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Layers
  • Measurement
  • Sonar
  • Spectra
  • Surface Temperature
  • Towed Vehicles
  • Transducers
  • Undersea Warfare
  • Underwater Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Oceanography.