Diapycnal Mixing Induced by Rough Small‐Scale Bathymetry

Abstract

are believed to be particularly relevant. However, field studies of these processes, typically based on in-situ profiling measurements, were generally unable to capture the extreme spatial heterogeneity and intermittency of turbulence near bathymetric features, and focused only on individual obstacles rather than the overall effect in regions with extremely rough bathymetry.Here, we combine traditional in-situ turbulence microstructure profiling measurements with a new type of high-resolution broadband acoustic turbulence observations to investigate the effect of extremely rough bathymetry on energy dissipation and mixing. Our study area, a coastal region in the Southern Quark, northern Baltic Sea, is characterized by negligible tides and a large number of topographic features (hills and ridges) penetrating