The role of salinity in equatorial mixed layers
By:  Pegeen O'Neil Stougard
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 56
Description: The purpose of this study was to understand the role of surface salinity flux in changing heat exchange between      the ocean and the atmosphere by means of its effect on mixed layer dynamics. This was accomplished by a      series of thirty-day mixed layer experiments using the one-dimensional Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)      mixed layer model. Results from the NPS mixed layer model, forced with both idealized and in situ data from      the western equatorial Pacific Ocean, demonstrated that salinity can play a significant role in potentially      changing the surface heat flux, with its effect on the mixed layer depth and mixed layer temperature.      Precipitation stabilized the mixed layer by creating a barrier layer, which slowed entrainment. The net      accumulation of rain was found to be an important source of buoyancy that reduces entrainment by subsequent      wind mixing events.
Notes: "June 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): Roland W. Garwood, Arlene A. Guest.

Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 53).

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 9/25/98.