Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
Thermocline mixing in summer stratified continental shelf seas
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Anglesey, UK
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Anglesey, UK
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Anglesey, UK
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Anglesey, UK
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
A key process in the shelf sea pumping of CO2 to the open ocean is vertical mixing in the summer stratified zones of continental shelf seas. Here, we present measurements
of profiles of the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (
), from which vertical mixing is inferred, for several locations in the summer stratified zones of the NW European shelf seas.
At both sites we find significant thermocline mixing, with ∼20% of the observed turbulent dissipation taking place within
the thermocline. We then present evidence to demonstrate that the thermocline mixing is a result of shear instability within
the thermocline. This is contrary to the conventional view that vertical mixing in shelf seas is largely driven by boundary
shear stresses.
Received 29 November 2004; accepted 1 February 2005; published 2 March 2005.
Citation: (2005), Thermocline mixing in summer stratified continental shelf seas, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L05602, doi:10.1029/2004GL022104.
Cited By