• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Rapid dispersal of a hydrothermal plume by turbulent mixing

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    drachenmix.pdf (5.640Mb)
    Date
    2010-08-23
    Author
    Walter, Maren  Concept link
    Mertens, Christian  Concept link
    Stober, Uwe  Concept link
    German, Christopher R.  Concept link
    Yoerger, Dana R.  Concept link
    Sultenfuß, Jurgen  Concept link
    Rhein, Monika  Concept link
    Melchert, Bernd  Concept link
    Baker, Edward T.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3852
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2010.04.010
    Keyword
     Physical oceanography; Hydrothermal vents; Diapycnal mixing; Plume dispersal; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Rift valleys 
    Abstract
    The water column imprint of the hydrothermal plume observed at the Nibelungen field (8°18' S 13°30' W) is highly variable in space and time. The off-axis location of the site, along the southern boundary of a non-transform ridge offset at the joint between two segments of the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, is characterized by complex, rugged topography, and thus favorable for the generation of internal tides, subsequent internal wave breaking, and associated vertical mixing in the water column. We have used towed transects and vertical profiles of stratification, turbidity, and direct current measurements to investigate the strength of turbulent mixing in the vicinity of the vent site and the adjacent rift valley, and its temporal and spatial variability in relation to the plume dispersal. Turbulent diffusivities Kp were calculated from temperature inversions via Thorpe scales. Heightened mixing (compared to open ocean values) was observed in the whole rift valley within an order of Kp around 10-3 m2 s-1. The mixing close to the vent site was even more elevated, with an average of Kp = 4 x 10-2 m2 s-1. The mixing, as well as the flow field, exhibited a strong tidal cycle, with strong currents and mixing at the non-buoyant plume level during ebb flow. Periods of strong mixing were associated with increased internal wave activity and frequent occurrence of turbulent overturns. Additional effects of mixing on plume dispersal include bifurcation of the particle plume, likely as a result of the interplay between the modulated mixing strength and current speed, as well as high frequency internal waves in the effluent plume layer, possibly triggered by the buoyant plume via nonlinear interaction with the elevated background turbulence or penetrative convection.
    Description
    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 57 (2010): 931-945, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2010.04.010.
    Collections
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (AOP&E)
    Suggested Citation
    Preprint: Walter, Maren, Mertens, Christian, Stober, Uwe, German, Christopher R., Yoerger, Dana R., Sultenfuß, Jurgen, Rhein, Monika, Melchert, Bernd, Baker, Edward T., "Rapid dispersal of a hydrothermal plume by turbulent mixing", 2010-08-23, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2010.04.010, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3852
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Trophic regions of a hydrothermal plume dispersing away from an ultramafic-hosted vent-system : Von Damm vent-site, Mid-Cayman Rise 

      Bennett, Sarah A.; Coleman, Max; Huber, Julie A.; Reddington, Emily; Kinsey, James C.; McIntyre, Cameron P.; Seewald, Jeffrey S.; German, Christopher R. (John Wiley & Sons, 2013-02-22)
      Deep-sea ultramafic-hosted vent systems have the potential to provide large amounts of metabolic energy to both autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms in their dispersing hydrothermal plumes. Such vent-systems release ...
    • Thumbnail

      Scaling for turbulent viscosity of buoyant plumes in stratified fluids : PIV measurement with implications for submarine hydrothermal plume turbulence 

      Zhang, Wei; He, Zhiguo; Jiang, Houshuo (2017-10-07)
      Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been used to measure instantaneous twodimensional velocity vector fields of laboratory-generated turbulent buoyant plumes in linearly stratified saltwater over extended ...
    • Thumbnail

      Modeling surf zone tracer plumes : 2. Transport and dispersion 

      Clark, David B.; Feddersen, Falk; Guza, R. T. (American Geophysical Union, 2011-11-18)
      Five surf zone dye tracer releases from the HB06 experiment are simulated with a tracer advection diffusion model coupled to a Boussinesq surf zone model (funwaveC). Model tracer is transported and stirred by currents and ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo