Title: On the Structure of the Upper Oceanic Boundary Layer and the Impact of Surface Waves
Abstract: A detailed investigation of the upper oceanic boundary layer (OBL), under various atmospheric and sea conditions, was carried out. During convective conditions the vertical structure of the potential temperature, θ, and the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate, ε, in the OBL mimic, in general, that in the convective atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). It is shown that the convective OBL exhibits a “slab” type behavior and from two independent estimates it issuggested that the heat flux profile is linear with depth. In contrast to the apparent similarities between the OBL and ABL, there were instances when ε was greatly enhanced relative to wind stress and/or buoyancy production and exhibited an exponential depth decay. In these instances simple scaling laws predicted for turbulence near a solid surface severely underestimate turbulent mixing near the ocean's surface. Two different mechanisms, both invoking turbulence-wave interaction, are suggested to explain the behaviour of ε near the surface.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-03-19
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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