Lateral mixing is driven through the interplay between finescale isopycnal stirring (shear + strain) and small-scale diapycnal turbulence. We seek to understand this interplay within highly anisotropic coherent structures, such as fronts, jets, eddies and filaments, which likely control lateral dispersion in both coastal and open ocean. These structures evolve yet are often persistent on O (3 day) timescales, so are ideally suited to be adaptively sampled by autonomous gliders ...
The long-term goal of this program is to understand the physics of small-scale oceanic processes including internal waves, hydraulics, turbulence and microstructure that act to perturb and control the circulation in coastal oceans and, in doing so, affect the propagation of sound and light. Ongoing studies within the Ocean Mixing Group at OSU emphasize observations, interaction with turbulence modelers and an aggressive program of sensor/instrumentation development and integration. This includes ...
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