scholarly journals Microstructure measurements and estimates of entrainment in the Denmark Strait overflow plume

Ocean Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1003-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Paka ◽  
V. Zhurbas ◽  
B. Rudels ◽  
D. Quadfasel ◽  
A. Korzh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interfacial Layer ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Gravity Current ◽  
Depth Interval ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Denmark Strait ◽  
Microstructure Measurements ◽  
Free Falling

Abstract. To examine processes controlling the entrainment of ambient water into the Denmark Strait overflow (DSO) plume/gravity current, measurements of turbulent dissipation rate were carried out by a quasi-free-falling (tethered) microstructure profiler (MSP). The MSP was specifically designed to collect data on dissipation-scale turbulence and fine thermohaline stratification in an ocean layer located as deep as 3500 m. The task was to perform microstructure measurements in the DSO plume in the lower 300 m depth interval including the bottom mixed layer and the interfacial layer below the non-turbulent ambient water. The MSP was attached to a Rosette water sampler rack equipped with a SeaBird CTDO and an RD Instruments lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP). At a chosen depth, the MSP was remotely released from the rack to perform measurements in a quasi-free-falling mode. Using the measured vertical profiles of dissipation, the entrainment rate as well as the bottom and interfacial stresses in the DSO plume were estimated at a location 200 km downstream of the sill at depths up to 1771 m. Dissipation-derived estimates of entrainment were found to be much smaller than bulk estimates of entrainment calculated from the downstream change of the mean properties in the plume, suggesting the lateral stirring due to mesoscale eddies rather than diapycnal mixing as the main contributor to entrainment. Dissipation-derived bottom stress estimates are argued to be roughly one third the magnitude of those derived from log velocity profiles. In the interfacial layer, the Ozmidov scale calculated from turbulence dissipation rate and buoyancy frequency was found to be linearly proportional to the overturning scale extracted from conventional CTD data (the Thorpe scale), with a proportionality constant of 0.76, and a correlation coefficient of 0.77.

scholarly journals Microstructure measurements and estimates of entrainment in the Denmark Strait overflow plume

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1067-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Paka ◽  
V. Zhurbas ◽  
B. Rudels ◽  
D. Quadfasel ◽  
A. Korzh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interfacial Layer ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Gravity Current ◽  
Depth Interval ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Denmark Strait ◽  
Microstructure Measurements ◽  
Free Falling

Abstract. To examine processes controlling the entrainment of ambient water into the Denmark Strait overflow (DSO) plume/gravity current, measurements of turbulent dissipation rate were carried out by a quasi-free-falling (tethered) microstructure profiler (MSP). The MSP was specifically designed to collect data on dissipation-scale turbulence and fine thermohaline stratification in an ocean layer to depths of 3500 m. The task was to perform microstructure measurements in the DSO plume in the lower 300 m depth interval including the bottom mixed layer and the interfacial layer below the non-turbulent ambient water. The MSP was attached to a Rosette water sampler rack equipped with a SeaBird CTDO and an RD Instruments Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP). At a chosen depth, the MSP was remotely released from the rack to perform measurements in a quasi-free-falling mode. Using the measured vertical profiles of dissipation, the entrainment rate as well as the bottom and interfacial stresses were estimated in the DSO plume at a location 200 km downstream of the sill at depths up to 1771 m. Dissipation-derived estimates of entrainment were found to be much smaller than bulk estimates of entrainment calculated from the downstream change of the mean properties in the plume, suggesting the lateral stirring due to meso-scale eddies rather than diapycnal mixing as the main contributor to entrainment. Dissipation-derived bottom stress estimates are argued to be roughly one-third the magnitude of those from log velocity profiles. In the interfacial layer, the Ozmidov scale calculated from turbulence dissipation rate and buoyancy frequency was found to be linearly proportional to the overturning scale extracted from conventional CTD data (the Thorpe scale), with a proportionality constant of 0.76, and a correlation coefficient of 0.77.

scholarly journals Microstructure Measurements from an Underwater Glider in the Turbulent Faroe Bank Channel Overflow

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1128-1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilker Fer ◽  
Algot K. Peterson ◽  
Jenny E. Ullgren
Keyword(s):  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Bottom Layer ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Underwater Glider ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Velocity Scale ◽  
Microstructure Measurements ◽  
Shear Probe ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Made In

AbstractMeasurements of ocean microstructure are made in the turbulent Faroe Bank Channel overflow using a turbulence instrument attached to an underwater glider. Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy ε is measured using airfoil shear probes. A comparison is made between 152 profiles from dive and climb cycles of the glider during a 1-week mission in June 2012 and 90 profiles collected from the ship using a vertical microstructure profiler (VMP). Approximately one-half of the profiles are collocated. For 96% of the dataset, measurements are of high quality with no systematic differences between dives and climbs. The noise level is less than 5 × 10−11 W kg−1, comparable to the best microstructure profilers. The shear probe data are contaminated and unreliable at the turning depth of the glider and for U/ut < 20, where U is the flow past the sensor, ut = (ε/N)1/2 is an estimate of the turbulent velocity scale, and N is the buoyancy frequency. Averaged profiles of ε from the VMP and the glider agree to better than a factor of 2 in the turbulent bottom layer of the overflow plume, and beneath the stratified and sheared plume–ambient interface. The glider average values are approximately a factor of 3 and 9 times larger than the VMP values in the layers defined by the isotherms 3°–6° and 6°–9°C, respectively, corresponding to the upper part of the interface and above. The discrepancy is attributed to a different sampling scheme and the intermittency of turbulence. The glider offers a noise-free platform suitable for ocean microstructure measurements.

Entrainment and mixing in stratified shear flows

2001 ◽  
Vol 428 ◽  
pp. 349-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. STRANG ◽  
H. J. S. FERNANDO
Keyword(s):  
Internal Waves ◽  
Richardson Number ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Buoyancy Flux ◽  
Shear Instability ◽  
Mixing Efficiency ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Turbulent Eddies

The results of a laboratory experiment designed to study turbulent entrainment at sheared density interfaces are described. A stratified shear layer, across which a velocity difference ΔU and buoyancy difference Δb is imposed, separates a lighter upper turbulent layer of depth D from a quiescent, deep lower layer which is either homogeneous (two-layer case) or linearly stratified with a buoyancy frequency N (linearly stratified case). In the parameter ranges investigated the flow is mainly determined by two parameters: the bulk Richardson number RiB = ΔbD/ΔU2 and the frequency ratio fN = ND=ΔU.When RiB > 1.5, there is a growing significance of buoyancy effects upon the entrainment process; it is observed that interfacial instabilities locally mix heavy and light fluid layers, and thus facilitate the less energetic mixed-layer turbulent eddies in scouring the interface and lifting partially mixed fluid. The nature of the instability is dependent on RiB, or a related parameter, the local gradient Richardson number Rig = N2L/ (∂u/∂z)2, where NL is the local buoyancy frequency, u is the local streamwise velocity and z is the vertical coordinate. The transition from the Kelvin–Helmholtz (K-H) instability dominated regime to a second shear instability, namely growing Hölmböe waves, occurs through a transitional regime 3.2 < RiB < 5.8. The K-H activity completely subsided beyond RiB ∼ 5 or Rig ∼ 1. The transition period 3.2 < RiB < 5 was characterized by the presence of both K-H billows and wave-like features, interacting with each other while breaking and causing intense mixing. The flux Richardson number Rif or the mixing efficiency peaked during this transition period, with a maximum of Rif ∼ 0.4 at RiB ∼ 5 or Rig ∼ 1. The interface at 5 < RiB < 5.8 was dominated by ‘asymmetric’ interfacial waves, which gradually transitioned to (symmetric) Hölmböe waves at RiB > 5:8.Laser-induced fluorescence measurements of both the interfacial buoyancy flux and the entrainment rate showed a large disparity (as large as 50%) between the two-layer and the linearly stratified cases in the range 1.5 < RiB < 5. In particular, the buoyancy flux (and the entrainment rate) was higher when internal waves were not permitted to propagate into the deep layer, in which case more energy was available for interfacial mixing. When the lower layer was linearly stratified, the internal waves appeared to be excited by an ‘interfacial swelling’ phenomenon, characterized by the recurrence of groups or packets of K-H billows, their degeneration into turbulence and subsequent mixing, interfacial thickening and scouring of the thickened interface by turbulent eddies.Estimation of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget in the interfacial zone for the two-layer case based on the parameter α, where α = (−B + ε)/P, indicated an approximate balance (α ∼ 1) between the shear production P, buoyancy flux B and the dissipation rate ε, except in the range RiB < 5 where K-H driven mixing was active.

Entrainment and Transport in Idealized Three-Dimensional Gravity Current Simulation

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1249-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Heng Tseng ◽  
David E. Dietrich
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Current ◽  
Vertical Mixing ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Numerical Dissipation ◽  
Good Convergence ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Denmark Strait ◽  
Dimensional Gravity ◽  
Fine Resolution

Abstract A purely z-coordinate Dietrich/Center for Air Sea Technology (DieCAST) ocean model is applied to the Dynamics of Overflow Mixing and Entrainment (DOME) idealized bottom density current problem that is patterned after the Denmark Strait. The numerical results show that the background viscosity plays a more important role than the chosen coordinate system in the entrainment and mixing if the background viscosity is not small enough. Both higher horizontal viscosity and coarser resolution leads to slower along-slope propagation. Reducing vertical mixing parameterization also leads to slower along-slope propagation with thicker plume size vertically. The simulation gives consistent results for the moderate- and fine-resolution runs. At a very coarse grid the dense water descends more slowly and is mainly dominated by diffusion. Time-averaged downstream transport and entrainment are not very sensitive to viscosity after the flow reaches its quasi-steady status. However, more realistic eddies and flow structures are found in low-viscosity runs. The results show good convergence of the resolved flow as expected and clarify the effects of numerical dissipation/mixing on overflow modeling. Larger numerical dissipation is not required nor recommended in z-coordinate models.

Numerical simulations of lock-exchange compositional gravity current

2009 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. 361-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
SENG KEAT OOI ◽  
GEORGE CONSTANTINESCU ◽  
LARRY WEBER
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Friction Velocity ◽  
Gravity Current ◽  
Gravity Currents ◽  
Inviscid Limit ◽  
Grashof Number ◽  
Front Speed ◽  
Initial Volume ◽  
Bed Friction

Compositional gravity current flows produced by the instantaneous release of a finite-volume, heavier lock fluid in a rectangular horizontal plane channel are investigated using large eddy simulation. The first part of the paper focuses on the evolution of Boussinesq lock-exchange gravity currents with a large initial volume of the release during the slumping phase in which the front of the gravity current propagates with constant speed. High-resolution simulations are conducted for Grashof numbers $\sqrt {Gr}$ = 3150 (LGR simulation) and $\sqrt {Gr}$ = 126000 (HGR simulation). The Grashof number is defined with the channel depth h and the buoyancy velocity ub = $\sqrt {g'h}$ (g′ is the reduced gravity). In the HGR simulation the flow is turbulent in the regions behind the two fronts. Compared to the LGR simulation, the interfacial billows lose their coherence much more rapidly (over less than 2.5h behind the front), which results in a much faster decay of the large-scale content and turbulence intensity in the trailing regions of the flow. A slightly tilted, stably stratified interface layer develops away from the two fronts. The concentration profiles across this layer can be approximated by a hyperbolic tangent function. In the HGR simulation the energy budget shows that for t > 18h/ub the flow reaches a regime in which the total dissipation rate and the rates of change of the total potential and kinetic energies are constant in time. The second part of the paper focuses on the study of the transition of Boussinesq gravity currents with a small initial volume of the release to the buoyancy–inertia self-similar phase. When the existence of the back wall is communicated to the front, the front speed starts to decrease, and the current transitions to the buoyancy–inertia phase. Three high-resolution simulations are performed at Grashof numbers between $\sqrt {Gr}$ = 3 × 104 and $\sqrt {Gr}$ = 9 × 104. Additionally, a calculation at a much higher Grashof number ($\sqrt {Gr}$ = 106) is performed to understand the behaviour of a bottom-propagating current closer to the inviscid limit. The three-dimensional simulations correctly predict a front speed decrease proportional to t−α (the time t is measured from the release time) over the buoyancy–inertia phase, with the constant α approaching the theoretical value of 1/3 as the current approaches the inviscid limit. At Grashof numbers for which $\sqrt {Gr}$ > 3 × 104, the intensity of the turbulence in the near-wall region behind the front is large enough to induce the formation of a region containing streaks of low and high streamwise velocities. The streaks are present well into the buoyancy–inertia phase before the speed of the front decays below values at which the streaks can be sustained. The formation of the velocity streaks induces a streaky distribution of the bed friction velocity in the region immediately behind the front. This distribution becomes finer as the Grashof number increases. For simulations in which the only difference was the value of the Grashof number ($\sqrt {Gr}$ = 4.7 × 104 versus $\sqrt {Gr}$ = 106), analysis of the non-dimensional bed friction velocity distributions shows that the capacity of the gravity current to entrain sediment from the bed increases with the Grashof number. Past the later stages of the transition to the buoyancy–inertia phase, the temporal variations of the potential energy, the kinetic energy and the integral of the total dissipation rate are logarithmic.

scholarly journals Estuarine Boundary Layer Mixing Processes: Insights from Dye Experiments*

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 1859-1877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Chant ◽  
Wayne R. Geyer ◽  
Robert Houghton ◽  
Elias Hunter ◽  
James Lerczak
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Richardson Number ◽  
Flood Tide ◽  
Buoyancy Flux ◽  
Bottom Boundary Layer ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Diapycnal Mixing ◽  
Bottom Boundary ◽  
Shear Production

Abstract A series of dye releases in the Hudson River estuary elucidated diapycnal mixing rates and temporal variability over tidal and fortnightly time scales. Dye was injected in the bottom boundary layer for each of four releases during different phases of the tide and of the spring–neap cycle. Diapycnal mixing occurs primarily through entrainment that is driven by shear production in the bottom boundary layer. On flood the dye extended vertically through the bottom mixed layer, and its concentration decreased abruptly near the base of the pycnocline, usually at a height corresponding to a velocity maximum. Boundary layer growth is consistent with a one-dimensional, stress-driven entrainment model. A model was developed for the vertical structure of the vertical eddy viscosity in the flood tide boundary layer that is proportional to u2*/N∞, where u* and N∞ are the bottom friction velocity and buoyancy frequency above the boundary layer. The model also predicts that the buoyancy flux averaged over the bottom boundary layer is equal to 0.06N∞u2* or, based on the structure of the boundary layer equal to 0.1NBLu2*, where NBL is the buoyancy frequency across the flood-tide boundary layer. Estimates of shear production and buoyancy flux indicate that the flux Richardson number in the flood-tide boundary layer is 0.1–0.18, consistent with the model indicating that the flux Richardson number is between 0.1 and 0.14. During ebb, the boundary layer was more stratified, and its vertical extent was not as sharply delineated as in the flood. During neap tide the rate of mixing during ebb was significantly weaker than on flood, owing to reduced bottom stress and stabilization by stratification. As tidal amplitude increased ebb mixing increased and more closely resembled the boundary layer entrainment process observed during the flood. Tidal straining modestly increased the entrainment rate during the flood, and it restratified the boundary layer and inhibited mixing during the ebb.

scholarly journals Exploring Stratocumulus Cloud-Top Entrainment Processes and Parameterizations by Using Doppler Cloud Radar Observations

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 729-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Albrecht ◽  
Ming Fang ◽  
Virendra Ghate
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Time Derivative ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Velocity Variance ◽  
Entrainment Zone

Abstract Observations made at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) site during uniform nonprecipitating stratocumulus cloud conditions for a 14-h period are used to examine cloud-top entrainment processes and parameterizations. The observations from a vertically pointing Doppler cloud radar provide estimates of vertical velocity variance and energy dissipation rate (EDR) terms in the parameterized turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget of the entrainment zone. Hourly averages of the vertical velocity variance term in the TKE entrainment formulation correlated strongly (r = 0.72) with the dissipation rate term in the entrainment zone, with an increased correlation (r = 0.92) when accounting for the nighttime decoupling of the boundary layer. Independent estimates of entrainment rates were obtained from an inversion-height budget using the local time derivative and horizontal advection of cloud-top height together with large-scale vertical velocity at the boundary layer inversion from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis model. The mean entrainment rate from the inversion-height budget during the 14-h period was 0.74 ± 0.15 cm s−1 and was used to calculate bulk coefficients for entrainment parameterizations based on convective velocity scale w* and TKE budgets of the entrainment zone. The hourly values of entrainment rates calculated using these coefficients exhibited good agreement with those calculated from the inversion-height budget associated with substantial changes in surface buoyancy production and cloud-top radiative cooling. The results indicate a strong potential for making entrainment rate estimates directly from radar vertical velocity variance and the EDR measurements.

Entraining gravity currents

2013 ◽  
Vol 731 ◽  
pp. 477-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Johnson ◽  
Andrew J. Hogg
Keyword(s):  
Richardson Number ◽  
Solution Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gravity Current ◽  
Gravity Currents ◽  
Similarity Solutions ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Experimental Measurements ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
Long Time

AbstractEntrainment of ambient fluid into a gravity current, while often negligible in laboratory-scale flows, may become increasingly significant in large-scale natural flows. We present a theoretical study of the effect of this entrainment by augmenting a shallow water model for gravity currents under a deep ambient with a simple empirical model for entrainment, based on experimental measurements of the fluid entrainment rate as a function of the bulk Richardson number. By analysing long-time similarity solutions of the model, we find that the decrease in entrainment coefficient at large Richardson number, due to the suppression of turbulent mixing by stable stratification, qualitatively affects the structure and growth rate of the solutions, compared to currents in which the entrainment is taken to be constant or negligible. In particular, mixing is most significant close to the front of the currents, leading to flows that are more dilute, deeper and slower than their non-entraining counterparts. The long-time solution of an inviscid entraining gravity current generated by a lock-release of dense fluid is a similarity solution of the second kind, in which the current grows as a power of time that is dependent on the form of the entrainment law. With an entrainment law that fits the experimental measurements well, the length of currents in this entraining inviscid regime grows with time approximately as ${t}^{0. 447} $. For currents instigated by a constant buoyancy flux, a different solution structure exists in which the current length grows as ${t}^{4/ 5} $. In both cases, entrainment is most significant close to the current front.

The growth of a turbulent patch in a stratified fluid

1988 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harindra J. S. Fernando
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
Interfacial Layer ◽  
Patch Size ◽  
Stratified Fluid ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
External Energy ◽  
External Energy Source ◽  
Vertical Size

The behaviour of a turbulent region generated within a linearly-stratified fluid by an external energy source has been studied experimentally. A monoplanar grid that generated small-amplitude oscillations was used as the energy source. The results show that the mixed layer initially grows rapidly, as in an unstratified fluid, but when its physical vertical size becomes rf ∼ (K1/N)½, at a time tf ≈ 4.0 N−1, where N is the buoyancy frequency and K1 is the ‘action’ of the grid, the buoyancy forces become dominant and drastically reduce further vertical growth of the patch. While the patch size remains at rf, a well-defined density interfacial layer is formed at the entrainment interface. An important feature of the interfacial layer is the presence of internal waves, excited by the mixed-layer turbulence. If the grid oscillations are continuously maintained, the interfacial waves break and cause turbulent mixing, thereby increasing the size of the patch beyond rf at a very slow rate. Theoretical estimates are made for the growth characteristics and are compared with the experimental results.

scholarly journals Basic Regularities of Vertical Turbulent Exchange in the Mixed and Stratified Layers of the Black Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Samodurov ◽  
A. M. Chukharev ◽  
D. A. Kazakov ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Turbulent Exchange ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Buoyancy Frequency ◽  
Exchange Coefficient ◽  
Semi Empirical ◽  
Turbulence Generation ◽  
Turbulent Exchange Coefficient

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to assess the coefficient of vertical turbulent exchange for different layers of the Black Sea basin based on the experimental data on microstructure of the physical fields obtained for the period 2004–2019 in the Black Sea and using the semi-empirical models. Methods and Results. For the upper mixed layer, the turbulent energy dissipation rate ɛ and the exchange coefficient were calculated using the velocity fluctuation spectra based on the Kolmogorov hypotheses on the turbulence spectrum inertial range. In the stratified layers, the turbulence coefficient and the dissipation rate were experimentally determined both from the spectra of the velocity horizontal fluctuations’ gradients and the vertical spectra of temperature fluctuations using the concept of the effective scale of turbulent patches. Depending on the features of the hydrological regime and the prevailing energy contributors to turbulence generation, five layers were identified and described (including their characteristic power dependences of the vertical turbulent diffusion coefficients K on the buoyancy frequency N) using the 1.5D-model of vertical turbulent exchange for the basin under study. For the stratified layers, the 1.5D-model results were comparatively analyzed with those of the other semi-empirical and theoretical models describing the most probable hydrophysical processes in each specific layer; the relations for the vertical turbulent exchange coefficient were obtained depending on the buoyancy frequency. Conclusions. Comparison of the experimental data collected under different hydrometeorological conditions with the simulations resulted from the known turbulence models for the sea upper layer showed that the best agreement between the simulation and measurement data was provided by a multiscale model taking into account three basic mechanisms of turbulence generation: current velocity shear, instability of wave motions, and wave breaking. The turbulent exchange coefficient dependencies on depth are conditioned by the effect of the turbulence dominant source at a given level. In the stratified layers, the exchange coefficient dependence on buoyancy frequency is determined by the hydrophysical processes in each layer; the relations obtained for individual layers indicate intensity of the contributions of vertical advection, internal wave breakings, turbulence diffusion and geothermal flux.

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