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  • 1
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    [S.l.] : American Institute of Physics (AIP)
    Physics of Fluids 12 (2000), S. 1343-1362 
    ISSN: 1089-7666
    Source: AIP Digital Archive
    Topics: Physics
    Notes: Direct numerical simulations of turbulence resulting from Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in stably stratified shear flow are used to study sources of anisotropy in various spectral ranges. The set of simulations includes various values of the initial Richardson and Reynolds numbers, as well as Prandtl numbers ranging from 1 to 7. We demonstrate that small-scale anisotropy is determined almost entirely by the spectral separation between the small scales and the larger scales on which background shear and stratification act, as quantified by the buoyancy Reynolds number. Extrapolation of our results suggests that the dissipation range becomes isotropic at buoyancy Reynolds numbers of order 105, although we cannot rule out the possibility that small-scale anisotropy persists at arbitrarily high Reynolds numbers, as some investigators have suggested. Correlation-coefficient spectra reveal the existence of anisotropic flux reversals in the dissipation subrange whose magnitude decreases with increasing Reynolds number. The scalar concentration field tends to be more anisotropic than the velocity field. Estimates of the dissipation rates of kinetic energy and scalar variance based on the assumption of isotropy are shown to be accurate for buoyancy Reynolds numbers greater than O(102). Such estimates are therefore reliable for use in the interpretation of most geophysical turbulence data, but may give misleading results when applied to smaller-scale flows. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    [S.l.] : American Institute of Physics (AIP)
    Physics of Fluids 12 (2000), S. 1327-1342 
    ISSN: 1089-7666
    Source: AIP Digital Archive
    Topics: Physics
    Notes: Turbulence resulting from Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in layers of localized stratification and shear is studied by means of direct numerical simulation. Our objective is to present a comprehensive description of the turbulence evolution in terms of simple, conceptual pictures of shear–buoyancy interaction that have been developed previously based on assumptions of spatially uniform stratification and shear. To this end, we examine the evolution of various length scales that are commonly used to characterize the physical state of a turbulent flow. Evolving layer thicknesses and overturning scales are described, as are the Ozmidov, Corrsin, and Kolmogorov scales. These considerations enable us to provide an enhanced understanding of the relationships between uniform-gradient and localized-gradient models for sheared, stratified turbulence. We show that the ratio of the Ozmidov scale to the Thorpe scale provides a useful indicator of the age of a turbulent event resulting from Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Several years of moored turbulence measurements from xpods at three sites in the equatorial cold tongues of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans yield new insights into proxy estimates of turbulence that specifically target the cold tongues. They also reveal previously unknown wind dependencies of diurnally varying turbulence in the near-critical stratified shear layers beneath the mixed layer and above the core of the Equatorial Undercurrent that we have come to understand as deep cycle (DC) turbulence. Isolated by the mixed layer above, the DC layer is only indirectly linked to surface forcing. Yet, it varies diurnally in concert with daily changes in heating/cooling. Diurnal composites computed from 10-min averaged data at fixed xpod depths show that transitions from daytime to nighttime mixing regimes are increasingly delayed with weakening wind stress t. These transitions are also delayed with respect to depth such that they follow a descent rate of roughly 6 m h-1, independent of t. We hypothesize that this wind-dependent delay is a direct result of wind-dependent diurnal warm layer deepening, which acts as the trigger to DC layer instability by bringing shear from the surface down-ward but at rates much slower than 6 m h-1. This delay in initiation of DC layer instability contributes to a reduction in daily averaged values of turbulence dissipation. Both the absence of descending turbulence in the sheared DC layer prior to arrival of the diurnal warm layer shear and the magnitude of the subsequent descent rate after arrival are roughly predicted by laboratory experiments on entrainment in stratified shear flows.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
    Format: text
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Multiyear turbulence measurements from oceanographic moorings in equatorial Atlantic and Pacific cold tongues reveal similarities in deep cycle turbulence (DCT) beneath the mixed layer (ML) and above the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) core. Diurnal composites of turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate, ϵ, clearly show the diurnal cycles of turbulence beneath the ML in both cold tongues. Despite differences in surface forcing, EUC strength and core depth DCT occurs, and is consistent in amplitude and timing, at all three sites. Time-mean values of ϵ at 30 m depth are nearly identical at all three sites. Variations of averaged values of ϵ in the deep cycle layer below 30 m range to a factor of 10 between sites. A proposed scaling in depth that isolates the deep cycle layers and of ϵ by the product of wind stress and current shear collapses vertical profiles at all sites to within a factor of 2.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
    Format: text
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