An experimental investigation of the thermohaline, diffusive
interface between convecting layers, with heat fluxes more similar to
natural fluxes than in previous studies, shows that the formula suggested
by Huppert (1971) for the dependence of heat flux on interface
stability cannot be extrapolated to stability numbers higher than seven
and a new formula is proposed. The non-dimensional ratio of salt to
heat flux is observed to increase from the value 0.15, found by Turner
(1965), as the heat flux is lowered through almost three orders of
magnitude. Migration of the interface is found even in experiments
with anti-symmetric temperature boundary conditions; Huppert's
(1971) analysis of the stability of a pair of diffusive interfaces was
based on the assumption of stationary interfaces. For oceanic values
of the heat flux, the thickness of the interface was in the range
observed for the layered system of microstructure in the Arctic Ocean. / Graduation date: 1974
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28748 |
| Date | 23 April 1974 |
| Creators | Marmorino, G. O. |
| Contributors | Caldwell, Douglas R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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