Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32
Tailleux has written about the concept of epineutral mixing and has attempted to justify it from an energetic viewpoint. However, Tailleux’s approach is incorrect because it ignores the unsteady nature of the density field during baroclinic motions, which in turn leads to incorrect conclusions. Tail...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2017-04-01
|
| Series: | Fluids |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2311-5521/2/2/19 |
| _version_ | 1819113391790227456 |
|---|---|
| author | Trevor J. McDougall Sjoerd Groeskamp Stephen M. Griffies |
| author_facet | Trevor J. McDougall Sjoerd Groeskamp Stephen M. Griffies |
| author_sort | Trevor J. McDougall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tailleux has written about the concept of epineutral mixing and has attempted to justify it from an energetic viewpoint. However, Tailleux’s approach is incorrect because it ignores the unsteady nature of the density field during baroclinic motions, which in turn leads to incorrect conclusions. Tailleux also asserts that “adiabatic and isohaline parcel exchanges can only be meaningfully defined on material surfaces” that are functions of only Absolute Salinity and Conservative Temperature and are not separately a function of pressure. We disagree with this assertion because there is no physical reason why the ocean should care about a globally-defined function of Absolute Salinity and Conservative Temperature that we construct. Rather, in order to understand and justify the concept of epineutral mixing, we consider the known physical processes that occur at the in situ pressure of the mixing. The Tailleux paper begins with two incorrect equations that ignore the transience of the ocean. These errors echo throughout Tailleux, leading to sixteen conclusions, most of which we show are incorrect. (Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality Versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32, doi:10.3390/fluids1040032.) |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T04:28:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e79404ba85b24000a9c0b18803f46aba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2311-5521 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T04:28:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fluids |
| spelling | doaj.art-e79404ba85b24000a9c0b18803f46aba2022-12-21T18:39:05ZengMDPI AGFluids2311-55212017-04-01221910.3390/fluids2020019fluids2020019Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32Trevor J. McDougall0Sjoerd Groeskamp1Stephen M. Griffies2School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaSchool of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaGeophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Princeton, NJ 08540, USATailleux has written about the concept of epineutral mixing and has attempted to justify it from an energetic viewpoint. However, Tailleux’s approach is incorrect because it ignores the unsteady nature of the density field during baroclinic motions, which in turn leads to incorrect conclusions. Tailleux also asserts that “adiabatic and isohaline parcel exchanges can only be meaningfully defined on material surfaces” that are functions of only Absolute Salinity and Conservative Temperature and are not separately a function of pressure. We disagree with this assertion because there is no physical reason why the ocean should care about a globally-defined function of Absolute Salinity and Conservative Temperature that we construct. Rather, in order to understand and justify the concept of epineutral mixing, we consider the known physical processes that occur at the in situ pressure of the mixing. The Tailleux paper begins with two incorrect equations that ignore the transience of the ocean. These errors echo throughout Tailleux, leading to sixteen conclusions, most of which we show are incorrect. (Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality Versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32, doi:10.3390/fluids1040032.)http://www.mdpi.com/2311-5521/2/2/19ocean mixingdianeutral mixingmesoscale eddieslateral stirring |
| spellingShingle | Trevor J. McDougall Sjoerd Groeskamp Stephen M. Griffies Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 Fluids ocean mixing dianeutral mixing mesoscale eddies lateral stirring |
| title | Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 |
| title_full | Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 |
| title_fullStr | Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 |
| title_short | Comment on Tailleux, R. Neutrality versus Materiality: A Thermodynamic Theory of Neutral Surfaces. Fluids 2016, 1, 32 |
| title_sort | comment on tailleux r neutrality versus materiality a thermodynamic theory of neutral surfaces fluids 2016 1 32 |
| topic | ocean mixing dianeutral mixing mesoscale eddies lateral stirring |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2311-5521/2/2/19 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT trevorjmcdougall commentontailleuxrneutralityversusmaterialityathermodynamictheoryofneutralsurfacesfluids2016132 AT sjoerdgroeskamp commentontailleuxrneutralityversusmaterialityathermodynamictheoryofneutralsurfacesfluids2016132 AT stephenmgriffies commentontailleuxrneutralityversusmaterialityathermodynamictheoryofneutralsurfacesfluids2016132 |