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Abstract
A new high-frequency turbulence measuring instrument, MicroSoar, has been developed, tested, and used to make scalar variance dissipation rate measurements. MicroSoar was mounted on the undercarriage of SeaSoar, a depth-programmable winged platform, and towed by a ship, at speeds up to 7 kt, in a depth range of the sea surface to 120 m. Sensors carried by MicroSoar were a fast thermistor, a pressure sensor, a microscale capillary conductivity sensor, and a three-axis accelerometer. With appropriate assumptions about the local T–S relation, measurements of microscale conductivity fluctuations can often be used to directly determine temperature variance dissipation rate (χ T ), the Cox number (C x ), and the scalar diathermal turbulent diffusivity (K T ). Compared to conventional quasi-free-fall tethered vertically profiling instruments, MicroSoar's major advantage lies in its ability to sample large fluid volumes and large geographic areas in a short time, and to provide, rapidly and simply, two-dimensional (horizontal–vertical) representations of the distribution of oceanic mixing rates.
Abstract
A new high-frequency turbulence measuring instrument, MicroSoar, has been developed, tested, and used to make scalar variance dissipation rate measurements. MicroSoar was mounted on the undercarriage of SeaSoar, a depth-programmable winged platform, and towed by a ship, at speeds up to 7 kt, in a depth range of the sea surface to 120 m. Sensors carried by MicroSoar were a fast thermistor, a pressure sensor, a microscale capillary conductivity sensor, and a three-axis accelerometer. With appropriate assumptions about the local T–S relation, measurements of microscale conductivity fluctuations can often be used to directly determine temperature variance dissipation rate (χ T ), the Cox number (C x ), and the scalar diathermal turbulent diffusivity (K T ). Compared to conventional quasi-free-fall tethered vertically profiling instruments, MicroSoar's major advantage lies in its ability to sample large fluid volumes and large geographic areas in a short time, and to provide, rapidly and simply, two-dimensional (horizontal–vertical) representations of the distribution of oceanic mixing rates.
