Abstract
Estimating the diapycnal mixing rate from standard CTD data by identifying overturning regions in the water column (the Thorpe-scale approach) provides good spatial and temporal coverage but is sometimes limited by instrument noise. This noise leads to spurious density inversions that are difficult to distinguish from real turbulent overturns. Previous efforts to eliminate noise may have overcorrected and hence underestimated the level of mixing. Here idealized density profiles are used to identify the magnitude and characteristics of overturning regions arising entirely from instrument noise, in order to establish a standard against which CTD data can be compared. The key nondimensional parameters are 1) the amplitude of the noise scaled by the density change over the section of profile considered, and 2) the number of data points in the section of profile. In some cases the product of these, which is equal to the amplitude of the noise scaled by the average density difference between consecutive measurements, is more useful than the second parameter. The probability distribution of “run length,” a useful diagnostic, varies significantly across this parameter space. Reasons for this are discussed, and it is shown that CTD data very rarely lie in a region of parameter space where comparison with the probability density function (PDF) of run lengths for a random uncorrelated series, or its rms value
Corresponding author address: Dr. Helen L. Johnson, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada. Email: helenj@uvic.ca
