Empress Dock European Way Southampton

• Main Authors: Corresponding Barry Ruddick, Kelvin Richards, Hampshire So Zh
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: ocean mixing; salt fingers; turbulence; microstructure; finestructure; fronts; Antarctic Convergence; Gulf Stream; Kuroshio. July 2; 2002 Oceanic Thermohaline Intrusions; Observations Page 2; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.493.9319; http://www.phys.ocean.dal.ca/programs/doubdiff/final_pdfs/Ruddick_Richards.pdf

Intrusions are commonly observed in the upper, deep and coastal oceans, and are closely linked to lateral fluxes of heat, salt and momentum. This is a review of observations of intrusions and the results of comparisons of properties such as scale, slopes, microstructure activity, and fluxes with theoretical models. A summary of estimates of lateral heat fluxes indicates a wide range of lateral diffusivities. We conclude by noting that our present knowledge is insufficient to predict the structure, lengthscales and lateral fluxes of thermohaline intrusions with confidence, and list a number of unresolved questions. Suggestions are made for collection of existing data into a database for exploratory analysis and testing of theoretical hypotheses. An outline is given of a potential collaborative field experiment using CTD, fluorescent dye, and microstructure observations.