The turbulent ocean / by S.A. Thorpe.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

1. Heat, buoyancy, instability and turbulence -- 2. Neutral stability : internal waves -- 3. Instability and transition to turbulence in stratified shear flows -- 4. Convective instabilities -- 5. Instability and breaking of internal waves in mid-water -- 6. The measurement of turbulence and mixing -- 7. Fine-structure, transient-structures, and turbulence in the pycnocline -- 8. The benthic boundary layer -- 9. The upper ocean boundary layer -- 10. Shallow seas -- 11. Boundary layers on beaches and submarine slopes -- 12. Topographically related turbulence -- 13. Large-scale waves, eddies and dispersion -- 14. Epilogue.

The subject of ocean turbulence is in a state of discovery and development with many intellectual challenges. This book describes the principal dynamic processes that control the distribution of turbulence, its dissipation of kinetic energy and its effects on the dispersion of properties such as heat, salinity, and dissolved or suspended matter in the deep ocean, the shallow coastal and the continental shelf seas. It focuses on the measurement of turbulence, and the consequences of turbulent motion in the oceanic boundary layers at the sea surface and near the seabed. Processes are illustrated by examples of laboratory experiments and field observations. The Turbulent Ocean provides an excellent resource for senior undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as an introduction and general overview for researchers. It will be of interest to all those involved in the study of fluid motion, in particular geophysical fluid mechanics, meteorology and the dynamics of lakes.