The effects of double-diffusion on a baroclinic vortex
Name
16753358-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
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2.92 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
974e5ba3ef02d225ca644a32c1fd4ccc
Author(s)
Smith, Wendy Marie
Advisor(s)
Raymond W. Schmitt, Jr.
Alternative Title
Baroclinic vortex, The effects of double-diffusion on a
Date Issued
1987
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Laboratory experiments were performed to study the combined effects of double-diffusion and rotation on an oceanic intrusion. Intrusions are driven across density-compensated fronts by the divergence of the double-diffusive buoyancy flux. The increased momentum transport across a double-diffusive interface, however, acts to oppose the action of the buoyancy flux. Turbulent double-diffusive Ekman layers could be a means of redistributing momentum. A model of an intrusion was made by injecting salt or sugar solution at the surface of a denser layer of sugar or salt solution in a rotating tank to form a baroclinic vortex. The size and shape of the vortex and the velocity structure of the intrusion were measured as functions of time. The double-diffusive vortex spread more quickly and had slower azimuthal velocities than a non-double-diffusive one. This effect increased as the density ratio approached unity. These results indicate that momentum transport across a double-diffusive interface is larger than that across a non-double-diffusive one; thus, the parameterization of friction in an intrusion model should be considered carefully.
Description
Thesis (M.S.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1987.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-59).
Subjects
Joint Program in Physical Oceanography.
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
MIT Department
Joint Program in Physical Oceanography
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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