Double-diffusive processes : 1996 Summer Study Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

The physics of double diffusion and the role that it plays in the ocean provided the central theme for the 1996 summer program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Lectures and seminars given by staff and visitors surveyed observations, laboratory experiments and theoretical models of double diffusive phenomena. Several lectures dealt with the related phenomena of thermal convection in layered media, the dynamics of binary fluids, viscoelastic convection and magnetoconvection. Research projects by the fellows included experiments with double diffusion in a slot, work on the formation and evolution of staircases, double diffusion in stars and the interaction between convection and radiation. This volume includes write-ups of the principal lectures, report of the fellows' research projects and abstracts of some of the seminars. A list of presentations and a bibliography may be found at the back of the volume.