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Oceanography pp 35–55Cite as

Oceanic Fine- and Microstructure

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Abstract

As recently as 20 years ago, we assumed that such oceanic parameters as temperature (T), salinity (S), and other chemical properties varied smoothly with depth. Earlier observational data came from widely spaced water bottle samples and reversing thermometers, and curves drawn through the discrete points obtained in this way were taken to represent the actual state of the ocean. Newly developed instruments have shown, however, that the vertical distributions of properties are often very far from smooth and typically consist of a series of quasihomogeneous. nearly horizontal layers, separated by regions in which the gradients are much larger. These variations, with layer scales ranging from about a meter to several hundred meters, are now called the oceanic finestructure; they are most prominent in the vicinity of fronts, across which there are large horizontal variations of T and S. Fluctuations of temperature, salinity, and velocity representing variations on a scale of about 10 centimeters and smaller have also been measured using rapidly responding sensors, and these constitute the turbulent microstructure.

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Authors
  1. J. Stewart Turner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 02543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Peter G. Brewer

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© 1983 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Turner, J.S. (1983). Oceanic Fine- and Microstructure. In: Brewer, P.G. (eds) Oceanography. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5440-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5440-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-5442-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5440-9

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