In:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Vol. 96, No. C10 ( 1991-10-15), p. 18447-18474
Abstract:
The steady flow in and near a turbulent boundary layer on a sloping boundary is considered, for a nonrotating stratified fluid. It is shown that the effect of nonuniform stratification in the interior (i.e., away from the turbulent layer) is to induce a convergent‐divergent flow in the boundary layer which results in an inflow or outflow to the interior. This inflow‐outflow acts in a divergent‐convergent manner on the interior isopycnals. Use of a filling‐box argument for the slow time variation of the interior then produces an approximate expression for an effective interior vertical diffusivity. The parameter dependence of this diffusivity is very strong; however, with realistic geophysical values (subject to the omission of rotation), e.g., a mixed layer depth of 50 m, Munk's canonical value of 10 −4 m 2 s −1 can easily be achieved. This work thus supports the view that boundary mixing is likely to be an important process in setting the vertical density profile in the ocean.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0148-0227
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Publication Date:
1991
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