The Turbulent Ocean

The idea of writing this book developed from the need for a text suitable in teaching a course on ocean physics to undergraduates and masters course students with some knowledge of physical processes, but not necessarily in fluids. The course demanded a text describing basic processes in fluids (many of which are beautifully illustrated in Van Dyke's (1982) book, a valuable introduction for students unfamiliar with fluid motion), and how these processes are manifest and why they are important in the ocean. In choosing as a title, The Turbulent Ocean, rather than Ocean Turbulence, I wish to convey an intention not to focus heavily on the complex and involved study of turbulence, but rather on the processes in the ocean leading to turbulence, its extraordinary and sometimes unexpected structure, and its multifaceted and profound effects in ocean dynamics. This is therefore not intended to provide the sort of basic introduction to turbulence given, for example, in the excellent book by Tenneckes and Lumley (1972). Little is said of the general theory of turbulent motion or of the problems involved in its statistical sampling and in the treatment of data, particularly the problems encountered in producing and interpreting energy spectra even though these must be faced by those measuring turbulence in the ocean. Rather I describe and focus attention on the physical processes that lead to turbulence, and on its effects in the ocean.I was encouraged by a reviewer of an early description of the book to choose a title including the word ‘mixing’, but this is only one aspect of the effect of turbulence and although arguably the most important, there are many others. There was also an expectation that ‘modelling’ would be a dominant subject in a text dealing with turbulence in the ocean. But to do justice to that subject would demand a further (and, for me and perhaps for some students too, a duller) book. The reader will find references to modelling, but not details.