3D Salt Finger Fluxes in the Thermocline

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

0092504 Stern The diapycnal heat and salt flux in an unbounded ocean with Prandtl number of 7, Lewis number of 0.01, and various density ratios between 1 and 2, will be determined by a combination of numerical calculations from the three-dimensional and two-dimensional Boussinesq equations, The undisturbed state of the model consists of a uniform temperature and salinity gradients, wherein salt fingers form and eventually lead to a statistically steady state. The non-dimensional heat flux, i.e., the Nusselt number, and the heat/salt flux ratio then depend only on the Prandtl number, Lewis number and density ratio. The numerical results will be compared with observations taken in the Central Atlantic based on dye dispersion and on the Cox method for interpreting thermal microstructure. The numerically obtained flux laws should also be locally applicable to regions of the thermocline containing relatively larger vertical gradients in thin lateral intrusions of temperature and salinity on isopycnal surfaces.