Gregg Michael C.

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Gregg
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Michael C.
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  • Technical Report
    Reversible and irreversible finestructure
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1981-09) Desaubies, Yves ; Gregg, Michael C.
    Various statistics of temperature profiles are examined in an attempt to distinguish irreversible structures due to mixing from reversible distortions induced by internal wave straining. Even if all the low gradient regions were the result of mixing events, an analysis of the profiles shows that such events are rare and most often incomplete. An upper bound on the mixing effectiveness is obtained; it increases as the vertical scale decreases. Taking next the opposite view that internal wave straining is the sole process, an analytic model is developed to calculate the probability density function of temperature gradients. The model considers the straining by a weakly nonlinear Gaussian internal wave field of a linear temperature profile. The nonlinearity of the field is essential to account for the skewness of the probability distributions. Comparisons with data are quite satisfactory at scales larger than - 2m, less so at smaller scales. We conclude that nonlinear effects are important; at scales larger than - 2 m straining is dominant with very little mixing, while at smaller scales irreversible structures are more prevalent.
  • Technical Report
    Internal waves, finestructure, mocrostructure, and mixing in the ocean
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1980-11) Gregg, Michael C. ; Briscoe, Melbourne G.
    Progress in measuring, interpreting, and understanding oceanic internal gravity waves and fine and microstructure is reviewed; we emphasize the quadrennium 1975-1978. The context is how these subjects contribute to oceanic mixing. The overlap between the areas is examined, as is the relevance of the subjects to other aspects of Present trends and suggestions for future work are included, and we offer some speculation on possible progress during the next quadrennium, which may be substantial especially for finestructure understanding.