Laboratory models of sea straits

Abstract

Two basins maintained at different densities are connected by a relatively shallow strait. If the strait is short, the flow is such that the Froude number is unity. The thickness of the intermediate layer, between the outflow and the inflow, is controlled by the requirement that the Richardson number be critical; this thickness is always about one-fifth of the total depth, both in these experiments and in the Strait of Gibraltar. If the strait is long, the Froude number is less than unity in the interior but increases to unity at each end. A strait may be considered short when its length is less than a few hundred times the sill depth.