Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach.
A summer bather entering a calm sea from the beach may sense alternating warm and cold water. This can be felt when moving forward into the sea ('vertically homogeneous' and 'horizontally different'), but also when standing still between one's feet and body ('vertically...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2012-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3293816?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818150665913892864 |
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| author | Hans van Haren Louis Gostiaux Martin Laan Martijn van Haren Eva van Haren Loes J A Gerringa |
| author_facet | Hans van Haren Louis Gostiaux Martin Laan Martijn van Haren Eva van Haren Loes J A Gerringa |
| author_sort | Hans van Haren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A summer bather entering a calm sea from the beach may sense alternating warm and cold water. This can be felt when moving forward into the sea ('vertically homogeneous' and 'horizontally different'), but also when standing still between one's feet and body ('vertically different'). On a calm summer-day, an array of high-precision sensors has measured fast temperature-changes up to 1 °C near a Texel-island (NL) beach. The measurements show that sensed variations are in fact internal waves, fronts and turbulence, supported in part by vertical stable stratification in density (temperature). Such motions are common in the deep ocean, but generally not in shallow seas where turbulent mixing is expected strong enough to homogenize. The internal beach-waves have amplitudes ten-times larger than those of the small surface wind waves. Quantifying their turbulent mixing gives diffusivity estimates of 10(-4)-10(-3) m(2) s(-1), which are larger than found in open-ocean but smaller than wave breaking above deep sloping topography. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T13:26:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ef7fabdef0c4270a3266d97e7d7c756 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T13:26:33Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ef7fabdef0c4270a3266d97e7d7c7562022-12-22T01:05:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0173e3253510.1371/journal.pone.0032535Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach.Hans van HarenLouis GostiauxMartin LaanMartijn van HarenEva van HarenLoes J A GerringaA summer bather entering a calm sea from the beach may sense alternating warm and cold water. This can be felt when moving forward into the sea ('vertically homogeneous' and 'horizontally different'), but also when standing still between one's feet and body ('vertically different'). On a calm summer-day, an array of high-precision sensors has measured fast temperature-changes up to 1 °C near a Texel-island (NL) beach. The measurements show that sensed variations are in fact internal waves, fronts and turbulence, supported in part by vertical stable stratification in density (temperature). Such motions are common in the deep ocean, but generally not in shallow seas where turbulent mixing is expected strong enough to homogenize. The internal beach-waves have amplitudes ten-times larger than those of the small surface wind waves. Quantifying their turbulent mixing gives diffusivity estimates of 10(-4)-10(-3) m(2) s(-1), which are larger than found in open-ocean but smaller than wave breaking above deep sloping topography.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3293816?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Hans van Haren Louis Gostiaux Martin Laan Martijn van Haren Eva van Haren Loes J A Gerringa Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. PLoS ONE |
| title | Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. |
| title_full | Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. |
| title_fullStr | Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. |
| title_short | Internal wave turbulence near a Texel beach. |
| title_sort | internal wave turbulence near a texel beach |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3293816?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hansvanharen internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach AT louisgostiaux internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach AT martinlaan internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach AT martijnvanharen internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach AT evavanharen internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach AT loesjagerringa internalwaveturbulencenearatexelbeach |