Abstract
SEVERAL authors1–3 have reported in situ observations of light scattering intensity in the deep ocean, which reveal the widespread occurrence of an ∼1 km thick layer of suspended mineral and organic matter above the ocean floor. The thickness of this nepheloid layer is several orders of magnitude greater than the characteristic thickness of the turbulent Ekman layer at the ocean floor4. Analysis of observations of the nepheloid layer in the western North Atlantic indicates that an average vertical mixing coefficient, A, ∼100 cm2 s−1 is required to maintain the layer2 in the lowest kilometre or so of the ocean. This value is significantly greater than the traditional (1 cm2 s−1) estimate based on water mass analysis5,6 of vertical eddy diffusivity in the deep ocean.
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BELL, T. Vertical mixing in the deep ocean. Nature 251, 43–44 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251043a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/251043a0
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