On instability and mixing on the UK Continental Shelf

The stability of stratified flows at locations in the Clyde, Irish and Celtic Seas on the UK Continental Shelf is examined. Flows are averaged over periods of 12-30 min in each hour, corresponding to the times taken to obtain reliable estimates of the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass, epsilon. The Taylor Goldstein equation is solved to find the maximum growth rate of small disturbances to these averaged flows, and the critical gradient Richardson number, Ri(c). The proportion of unstable periods where the minimum gradient Richardson number, Ri(min), is less than Ri(c) is about 35%. Cases are found in which Ri(c) < 0.25; 37% of the flows with Ri(min) < 0.25 are stable, and Ri(c) < 0.24 in 68% of the periods where Ri(min) < 0.25. Marginal conditions with 0.8 < Ri(min)/Ri(c) < 1.2 occur in 30% of the periods examined. The mean dissipation rate at the level where the fastest growing disturbance has its maximum amplitude is examined to assess whether the turbulence there is isotropic and how it relates to the wave-turbulence boundary. It is concluded that there is a background level of dissipation that is augmented by instability; instability of the averaged flow does not account for all the turbulence observed in mid-water. The effects of a horizontal separation of the measurements of shear and buoyancy are considered. The available data do not support the hypothesis that the turbulent flows observed on the UK shelf adjust rapidly to conditions that are close to being marginal, or that flows in a particular location and period of time in one sea have stability characteristics that are very similar to those in another. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.