Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/osd-10-2141-2013
https://doi.org/10.5194/osd-10-2141-2013
19 Nov 2013
 | 19 Nov 2013
Status: this preprint was under review for the journal OS. A revision for further review has not been submitted.

Turbulent mixing in the seasonally-stratified western Irish Sea: a Thorpe Scale perspective

K. L. Stansfield, M. R. Palmer, T. P. Rippeth, and J. H. Simpson

Abstract. The seasonal thermocline in shelf-seas represents an important biogeophysical barrier to the vertical flux of nutrients into the photic zone. Episodic weakening of this barrier plays an important role in sustaining the sub-surface chlorophyll maximum in summer and hence impacts the carbon draw-down in the seasonally-stratified zones of the shelf seas. Here we present estimates of the rate of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation inferred from microstructure shear probes and compare them with dissipation rates inferred from a standard conductivity-temperature-depth instrument and from a fast thermistor (Thorpe Scale methodology) at a site in the seasonally-stratified Irish Sea. All methods show strong dissipation rates in response to tidal stresses near the bed (order 10−2 Wm−3) with qualitatively similar temporal and spatial patterns. In the interior of the water column, however, only the microstructure shear probe estimates resolve the mixing in the region of the thermocline.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
K. L. Stansfield, M. R. Palmer, T. P. Rippeth, and J. H. Simpson
 
Status: closed (peer review stopped)
Status: closed (peer review stopped)
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
Printer-friendly Version - Printer-friendly version Supplement - Supplement
 
Status: closed (peer review stopped)
Status: closed (peer review stopped)
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
Printer-friendly Version - Printer-friendly version Supplement - Supplement
K. L. Stansfield, M. R. Palmer, T. P. Rippeth, and J. H. Simpson
K. L. Stansfield, M. R. Palmer, T. P. Rippeth, and J. H. Simpson

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