The characteristics of salt fingers in a variety of fluid systems, including stellar interiors, liquid metals, oceans, and magmas

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Abstract
The growth rates, flux ratios, wavenumbers, and bandwidths of salt fingers are computed for Prandtl numbers from 10− 7 to 104 and diffusivity ratios from 1 to 108, using the exact similarity solutions of Schmitt [Deep‐Sea Res. 2 6 A, 23 (1979)]. This model successfully explains the variation in flux ratio in the heat/salt and salt/sugar systems and produces salt‐finger spectra in agreement with ocean observations. The calculations presented here should be useful in the study of double diffusion in astrophysics, chemistry, geology, metallurgy, meteorology, and oceanography, and may be applicable to problems in the growth of semiconductor crystals.