Do observations adequately resolve the natural variability of oceanic turbulence?

Abstract

Especially in high Reynolds number, naturally-occurring flows, turbulence is a highly variable process. It is challenging to measure yet it is vital that we do so in order to quantify the internal transports of mass, nutrients, energy and momentum. Isolated turbulence profiles are difficult to interpret; systematic sampling and subsequent averaging are necessary. Confidence in our ability to properly sample turbulence arises from intergroup comparisons, comparisons with other methods to assess mixing coefficients and, most fundamentally, the constraints imposed by the governing fluid dynamics on both energy losses via viscous dissipation caused by turbulence and on the mixing that results from turbulence. Several examples in which fluid processes have been isolated from the full range of oceanic motions are reviewed in this light. These examples show how observationally-derived estimates of turbulence dissipation or mixing are consistent with larger scale constraints. The larger oceanographic problem of defining the full geographic variability of mixing remains.