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Mixing events in a stratified jet subject to surface wind and buoyancy forcing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

Hieu T. Pham  and
Sutanu Sarkar
Hieu T. Pham
Affiliation:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Sutanu Sarkar*
Affiliation:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: ssarkar@ucsd.edu
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Abstract

The fine-scale response of a subsurface stable stratified jet subject to the forcing of surface wind stress and surface cooling is investigated using direct numerical simulation. The initial velocity profile consists of a symmetric jet located below a surface layer driven by a constant wind stress. The initial density profile is well-mixed in the surface layer and linearly stratified in both upper and lower flanks of the jet. The minimum value of the gradient Richardson number in the upper flank of the jet exceeds the critical value of 0.25 for linear shear instability. Broadband finite-amplitude fluctuations are introduced to the surface layer to initiate the simulation. Turbulence is generated in the surface layer and deepens into the jet upper flank. Internal waves generated by the turbulent surface layer are observed to propagate downward across the jet. The momentum flux carried by the waves is significantly smaller than the Reynolds shear stress extracted from the background velocity. The wave energy flux is also smaller than the turbulence production by mean shear. Ejections of fluid parcels by horseshoe-like vortices cause intermittent patches of intense dissipation inside the jet upper flank where the background gradient Richardson number is larger than 0.25. Drag due to the wind stress is smaller than the drag caused by turbulent stress in the flow. Analysis of the mean and turbulent kinetic energy budgets suggests that the energy input by surface forcing is considerably smaller than the energy extracted from the initially imposed background shear in the surface layer.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Ocean processes Turbulent Flows: Stratified turbulence
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 685 , 25 October 2011 , pp. 54 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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