Langmuir turbulence

In fluid dynamics, and oceanography, Langmuir turbulence is a turbulent flow with coherent Langmuir circulation structures that exist and evolve over a range of spatial and temporal scales.[1] These structures arise through an interaction between the ocean surface waves and the currents.

In the upper ocean Langmuir circulations are a special case where the turbulent structures exhibit a dominant cell size. In general it is expected that Langmuir turbulence is a global ocean phenomenon and not confined to gentle wind conditions or shallow water ways (as with most observations of Langmuir circulation).[2]

An important consequence of the Langmuir turbulence are deeply penetrating jets.[3] These features occur between counter-rotating Langmuir circulations and can inject turbulent kinetic energy to depths well below the depth scale for the surface waves (Stokes drift depth scale). [4] Langmuir turbulence could have an important impact on our understanding of climate.[2] In particular, Langmuir turbulence could affect the global ocean's sea surface temperature as the deeply penetrating Langmuir jets modify the depth of the ocean mixed layer.