3 - Turbulence

Summary

Dimensional analysis for stratified turbulence defines the variables describing turbulence in the ocean, which are then used with the Reynolds decomposition to develop equations of motion and define key parameters, such as turbulent kinetic energy and the viscous dissipation rate. These are used in developing the Kolmogorov energy cascade and the accompanying cascade of scalar variance. Considering turbulent evolution and decay leads to consideration of strongly stratified turbulence and pancake eddies. Turbulent intermittence and statistics include expressions for estimating confidence limits. The turbulent equations are then used to develop expressions for estimating turbulent eddy coefficients from what can be measured. The chapter ends with a consideration of mixing efficiency.