Small scale turbulent diffusion determined with underwater flow visualization

Dye plumes were generated at three depths in the seasonal thermocline between 7 and 11 m, 22 km south of Key West on 21 August 1980 and photographed at about 10 second intervals with an underwater camera system. Eleven pairs of consecutive pictures are analyzed to determine the mean current vertical shear and the width of the plumes by positioning reference points relative to the rod attached to the camera system. The relative distances of reference points are calibrated with the stereophotogrammetric method for one pair. The eddy diffusivity is calculated by use of a model of turbulent diffusion developed byTaylor (1921). Its values range from 5 to 25 cm²s^–1 for the plume widths ranging from 33 to 132 cm. The Richardson number is calculated for each pair of pictures with the vertical density gradient estimated from temperature profiles. Its values are higher than the critical value of 0.25 except for one case. The diffusivity was higher by orders of magnitude than the molecular one and indicates the presence of turbulence together with billow like features of the plumes in spite of high Richardson numbers. This suggests that the billow turbulence might be caused by effects of surface gravity waves and not by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.