Numerical Simulation of Thermohaline Convection in the Mixed Layer of the Ocean

<p>The intradiumal heating and cooling cycle of the mixed layer of a tropical ocean is investigated through the use of a pseudo-two-dimensional numerical model. Particular emphasis is given to two-component diffusion resulting from dynamic instabilities in the water column. The conservation equations for salt and heat include the effects of solar heating, horizontal advectlon, and turbulent fluxes at the sea surface, while wind mixing enter through the use of depth-dependent eddy diffusion coefficients resulting from the wave-orbital shear model of KitaigorodsldLy. All inputs are treated as functions of time-of-day, or calculated via the bulk aerodynamic method.</p> <p>The entrainment fluxes of salt and heat due to the mechanical stirring of the wind and the fluxes due to molecular diffusion are treated as separate, their respective contributions being added to form the diffusion coefficients used in an altemating-direction explicit scheme to integrate the heat and salt equations. Near the surface, in the absence of strong solar heating (i.e., nighttime), these two fluxes alone are insufficient to remove the near-surface static instabilities; thus the presence of some additional process is suggested. A dynamic stability analysis is carried out, based on the temperature and salinity gradients.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Ocean & Earth Sciences

Year dc:date.available

1976

Author dc:creator

• Delnore, Victor Eli

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chester E. Grosch
• Ronald E. Johnson
• George S. Ofelt
• Earl C. Kindle
• Robert A. LaBudde

• Mixed layer
• Ocean
• Flux
• Numerical simulation
• Thermoline convection
• Oceanography

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_etds/125

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:oeas_etds-1117