The mixing layer of Loch Ness

Abstract

Measurements of the thermal and velocity structure of the near-surface mixing layer of a freshwater lake in moderate wind conditions from fixed or mobile arrays of sensors reveal large-scale coherent structures consisting of narrow fronts across which both the temperature and the horizontal component of the current increase. These fronts are generally transverse to the wind direction and are inclined to the vertical, and appear to be similar to fronts, reported as temperature ‘ramps’, in the near-surface atmospheric boundary layer. The time derivatives of the temperature are skewed in a sense consistent with observations in laboratory and atmospheric boundary layers, and of a magnitude consistent with measurements in the latter. Evidence is presented to show that bubbles generated by breaking waves are carried down in the large-scale pattern of flow associated with the fronts in the mixing layer. The presence of a Langmuir circulation associated with wind rows has not been established in these experiments. The relevance of the observations to the ocean mixing layer is discussed.