Yuan-Zheng Lu

Laboratory experiments on diffusive convection layer thickness and its oceanographic implications

We studied the thickness of diffusive convective layers that form when a linearly stratified fluid is subjected to heating from below in the laboratory. The thickness of the bottom convecting layer is much larger than subsequent layers. These thicknesses are systematically identified and used to examine the available convecting layer thickness parameterizations, which are consisted of the measured heat flux F (or thermal buoyancy flux qT), initial stratification N, density ratio Rρ, thermal diffusivity κT, etc. Parameterization with an intrinsic length scale (qT3κTN8)1/4 is shown to be superior. Including the present laboratory convecting layer thicknesses and those observed in oceans and lakes, where layer thickness ranges from 0.01 to 1000 m, the parameterization is updated as H=C(Rρ−1)2(qT3κTN8)1/4, where C = 38.3 for the bottom convective layer and 10.8 for the subsequent layers. Different prefactors are proposed to be attributed to different convective instabilities induced by different boundary conditions.

Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection

Diffusive convection (DC) occurs when the vertical stratified density is controlled by two opposing scalar gradients that have distinctly different molecular diffusivities, and the larger- and smaller- diffusivity scalar gradients have negative and positive contributions for the density distribution, respectively. The DC occurs in many natural processes and engineering applications, for example, oceanography, astrophysics and metallurgy. In oceans, one of the most remarkable features of DC is that the vertical temperature and salinity profiles are staircase-like structure, composed of consecutive steps with thick homogeneous convecting layers and relatively thin and high-gradient interfaces. The DC staircases have been observed in many oceans, especially in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, and play an important role on the ocean circulation and climatic change. In the Arctic Ocean, there exist basin-wide and persistent DC staircases in the upper and deep oceans. The DC process has an important effect on diapycnal mixing in the upper ocean and may significantly influence the surface ice-melting. Compared to the limitations of field observations, laboratory experiment shows its unique advantage to effectively examine the dynamic and thermodynamic processes in DC, because the boundary conditions and the controlled parameters can be strictly adjusted. Here, a detailed protocol is described to simulate the evolution process of DC staircase structure, including its generation, development and disappearance, in a rectangular tank filled with stratified saline water. The experimental setup, evolution process, data analysis, and discussion of results are described in detail.