Diapycnal eddy diffusivity

Short definition of Diapycnal eddy diffusivity (Diapycnal eddy diffusivity [math]\displaystyle{ K_\rho }[/math])
Diapycnal eddy diffusivity (for buoyancy) is defined from the buoyancy flux [math]\displaystyle{ \overline{w'\rho'} }[/math] and the background density gradient [math]\displaystyle{ \frac{\partial\rho}{\partial z} }[/math]

This is the common definition for Diapycnal eddy diffusivity, but other definitions maybe discussed within the wiki.

Osborn 1980 showed that the buoyancy eddy diffusivity [math]\displaystyle{ K_\rho =\frac{\bar{w'\rho'}}{\partial \rho/\partial z} }[/math] could be reduced to [math]\displaystyle{ K_\rho=\Gamma \epsilon N^{-2} }[/math] via the "mixing efficiency" [math]\displaystyle{ \Gamma }[/math] and the background stratification [math]\displaystyle{ N=\sqrt{\frac{-g}{\rho_o}\frac{\partial\rho}{\partial z}} }[/math].