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Existence of Bolgiano–Obukhov scaling in the bottom ocean?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2024

Peng-Qi Huang Open the ORCID record for Peng-Qi Huang [Opens in a new window] ,
Shuang-Xi Guo Open the ORCID record for Shuang-Xi Guo [Opens in a new window] ,
Sheng-Qi Zhou Open the ORCID record for Sheng-Qi Zhou [Opens in a new window] ,
Xian-Rong Cen ,
Ling Qu ,
Ming-Quan Zhu  and
Yuan-Zheng Lu
Peng-Qi Huang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China
Shuang-Xi Guo*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
Sheng-Qi Zhou*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
Xian-Rong Cen
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Design and Ceramic Art, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, PR China
Ling Qu
Affiliation:
Geophysical Exploration Brigade of Hubei Geological Bureau, Wuhan 430056, PR China
Ming-Quan Zhu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China
Yuan-Zheng Lu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China
*
†Email addresses for correspondence: sxguo@scsio.ac.cn, sqzhou@scsio.ac.cn
†Email addresses for correspondence: sxguo@scsio.ac.cn, sqzhou@scsio.ac.cn
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Abstract

The seminal Bolgiano–Obukhov (BO) theory established the fundamental framework for turbulent mixing and energy transfer in stably stratified fluids. However, the presence of BO scalings remains debatable despite their being observed in stably stratified atmospheric layers and convective turbulence. In this study, we performed precise temperature measurements with 51 high-resolution loggers above the seafloor for 46 h on the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea. The temperature observation exhibits three layers with increasing distance from the seafloor: the bottom mixed layer (BML), the mixing zone and the internal wave zone. A BO-like scaling $\alpha =-1.34\pm 0.10$ is observed in the temperature spectrum when the BML is in a weakly stable stratified ($N\sim 0.0018$ rad s$^{-1}$) and strongly sheared ($Ri\sim 0.0027$) condition, whereas in the unstably stratified convective turbulence of the BML, the scaling $\alpha =-1.76\pm 0.10$ clearly deviated from the BO theory but approached the classical $-$5/3 scaling in isotropic turbulence. This suggests that the convective turbulence is not the promise of BO scaling. In the mixing zone, where internal waves alternately interact with the BML, the scaling follows the Kolmogorov scaling. In the internal wave zone, the scaling $\alpha =-2.12 \pm 0.15$ is observed in the turbulence range and possible mechanisms are provided.

JFM classification

Turbulent Flows: Turbulent convection Turbulent Flows: Stratified turbulence Boundary Layers: Boundary layer structure

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JFM Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1000 , 10 December 2024 , A38
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© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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