Abstract
Repeated observations over a two-week period of the drifts of shallow parachute drogues in a region partly straddling the current core of the Florida Current off Miami are used to estimate the neighbor diffusivity in the neighbor separation range of 1–15 km. The estimates are consistent with the 4 3 power law, but are characterized by a marked horizontal asymmetry. A diffusivity model in terms of a succession of steady, linear lateral shear is proposed. In addition to an explanation of the dispersion features, the model pinpoints a possible difficulty in diffusivity experiments. The largest lateral diffusivity encountered is 1 × 10 5 cm 2/sec, and that for the downstream diffusivity is 5 × 10 6 cm 2/sec. The latter is comparable to the estimates for the California Current. As the downstream shear of the cross-stream velocity component is also comparable in both currents, we infer that the lateral tangential stresses in both currents are likewise comparable.
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