Nomenclature
From Atomix
Background (total) velocity
| Symbol | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| u | zonal velocity | |
| v | meridional velocity | |
| error velocity | ||
| V | velocity perpendicular to mean flow | |
| Profiler fall speed | ||
| Flow speed past sensor | ||
| b | Along-beam velocity from acoustic Doppler sensor | |
| Along-beam velocity from acoustic Doppler sensor with background flow deducted | ||
| Vertical size of measurement bin for acoustic Doppler sensor | ||
| r | Along-beam distance from acoustic Doppler sensor | |
| Along-beam bin size for acoustic Doppler sensor | ||
| Beam transmit and receive angle relative to instrument axis for acoustic Doppler sensor |
Turbulence properties
| Symbol | Description | Eqn | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viscous dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass | |||
| Ri | (Gradient) Richardson number; the ratio of buoyancy freqency squared to velocity shear squared | ||
| Ri | Flux Richardson number; the ratio of the buoyancy flux to the shear production of turbulent kinetic energy | ||
| Turbulent eddy diffusivity via the Osborn (1980) model | |||
| Second-order longitudinal structure function |
Fluid properties and background gradients for turbulence calculations
| Symbol | Description | Eqn | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practical salinity | |||
| T | Temperature | ||
| P | Pressure | ||
| Density of water | |||
| Temperature coefficient of expansion | |||
| Saline coefficient of contraction | |||
| S | Background velocity shear | ||
| Temperature dependent kinematic viscosity of seawater at a practical salinity of 35 | |||
| Temperature dependent kinematic viscosity of freshwater | |||
| Adiabatic temperature gradient -- salinity, temperature and pressure dependent | |||
| Background stratification, i.e buoyancy frequency |
Theoretical Length and Time Scales
| Symbol | Description | Eqn | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buoyancy timescale | |||
| Buoyancy period | |||
| Ellison length scale (limit of vertical displacement without irreversible mixing) | |||
| Density length scale | |||
| Corssin length scale | |||
| Kolmogorov length scale (smallest overturns) | |||
| Kolmogorov length scale (smallest overturns) | |||
| Ozmidov length scale, measure of largest overturns in a stratified fluid | |||
| Thorp length scale |
Turbulence Spectrum
These variables are used to express the Turbulence spectrum expected shapes.
| Symbol | Description | Eqn | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sampling interval | |||
| Sampling rate | |||
| Sample spacing | |||
| Linear dimension of sampling volume (instrument dependent) | |||
| Cyclic frequency | |||
| Angular frequency | |||
| Nyquist frequency | |||
| Cyclic wavenumber | |||
| Angular wavenumber | |||
| Nyquist wavenumber, based on sampling volume size | |||
| Nyquist wavenumber, via Taylor's hypothesis | |||
| Theoretical, empirical or model spectrum of any given variable | units of the variable squared/units of k (i.e.,cpm) | ||
| Observed spectrum of any given variable | units of the variable squared/units of k (i.e.,cpm) |
