Turbulence spectra from the viscous sublayer and buffer layer at the ocean floor

Abstract

An experiment conducted on the Oregon continental shelf has provided measurements of velocity fluctuations in the viscous sublayer and buffer layer of the boundary-layer flow. Spectra from the viscous sublayer collapse considerably when scaled as suggested by Bakewell & Lumley (1967), and buffer-layer spectra collapse reasonably well with laboratory spectra when the scaling customarily used in the logarithmic layer is applied. However, in spite of the usefulness of the spectral scaling, the scaled sublayer and buffer-layer spectra from the ocean floor fall below the scaled laboratory spectra in the energy-containing portion of the spectrum, perhaps because the sea floor is not perfectly planar.