Flow and mixing around a glacier tongue

Abstract

Abstract. A glacier tongue floating in the coastal ocean presents a significant obstacle to the local flow and influences oceanic mixing and transport processes. Here ocean shear microstructure observations at a glacier tongue side-wall show tidally-induced flow pulses and vortices as well as concomitant mixing. Flow speeds within the pulses reached around three times that of the ambient tidal flow amplitude and generated vertical velocity shear as large as 3×10−3 s−1. During the maximum flow period turbulent energy dissipation rates reached a maximum of 10−5 m2 s−3, around three decades greater than local background levels. This is in keeping with estimates of the gradient Richardson Number which dropped to around unity. Associated vertical diffusivities are higher that expected from parameterization, possibly reflecting the proximity of the cryotopography.