The Turbulent Ocean

About this book

The subject of ocean turbulence is in a state of discovery and development with many intellectual challenges. The Turbulent Ocean describes the principal dynamic processes that control the distribution of turbulence, its dissipation of kinetic energy and its effects on the dispersion of properties such as heat, salinity, and dissolved or suspended matter in the deep ocean, the shallow coastal and the continental shelf seas. It focuses on the measurement of turbulence, and the consequences of turbulent motion in the oceanic boundary layers at the sea surface and near the seabed. Processes are illustrated by examples of laboratory experiments and field observations. The Turbulent Ocean provides an excellent resource for senior undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as an introduction and general overview for researchers. It will be of interest to all those involved in the study of fluid motion, in particular geophysical fluid mechanics, meteorology and the dynamics of lakes.

Please note that the publisher has cancelled plans for a paperback version.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Heat, buoyancy, instability and turbulence
2. Neutral stability: internal waves
3. Instability and transition to turbulence in stratified shear flows
4. Convective instabilities
5. Instability and breaking of internal waves in mid-water
6. The measurement of turbulence and mixing
7. Fine-structure, transient structures and turbulence in mid-water
8. The benthic boundary layer
9. The upper ocean boundary layer
10. Shallow sea
11. Boundary layers on beaches and submarine slopes
12. Topographically-related turbulence
13. Large-scale waves, eddies and dispersion
14. Epilogue

Appendices
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Stephen Thorpe is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Southampton and an Honorary Professor at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor.