Abstract
The response of a shear flow to an imposed wind stress is studied both theoretically and by means of a numerical turbulence model. It is shown that for small initial gradient Richardson numbers ( Ri 0 ≲ 4/3 ) a tail wind causes the slab velocity of the upper mixed layer to decrease. The theory is based on the assumption that during the wind-induced entrainment process the overall Richardson number will adjust to a quasi-constant value ( Ri u ≈ 2/3 ). The turbulence model is the so-called k-ɛ model. It is calibrated to five conditions by tuning only one constant. The details of the deepening process and the density and velocity distributions of the upper mixed layer during this anomalous behavior are thus made clear. The results imply that the common practice of estimating the total current velocity by vector addition of the original velocity and the wind-induced velocity (calculated from models based on an ocean at rest) may lead to an overestimation of the current speed.
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