Observations of a Rain-Formed Mixed Layer
- 1 May 1979
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Vol. 9 (3) , 643-649
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1979)009<0643:ooarfm>2.0.co;2
Abstract
The structure and dynamics of a rain-formed mixed layer (ML) are studied using hourly STD and profiling current meter casts. Because the fluid beneath the rain-formed ML was vertically homogeneous, the ML buoyancy g′ and horizontal velocity difference δV were easily observable as the ML depth h increased by entrainment from 7 to 18 m in a period of 8 h. The overall Richardson number of the mixed layer g′(h + d/2)/δV2 ≈ 0.7 during that period, where d is the thickness of the transition layer at the base of the ML. The entrainment rate was consistent with that of a laboratory surface half-jet (Ellison and Turner, 1959). The transition layer thickness was an appreciable fraction of the ML thickness, roughly d ≈ h/3. The density profile through the transition layer was linear and symmetric, and the overall Richardson number of the transition layer g′d/δV2 ≈ 1/4.Keywords
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