Probability Distribution of Turbulent Kinetic Energy Dissipation Rate in Stratified Turbulence: Microstructure Measurements in the Southern California Bight

Abstract

Abstract A month of microstructure measurements in the Southern California Bight allowed to confirm the hypothesis that in ocean pycnocline, below the surface mixed layer, the probability distribution of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate ε averaged over equal time segments (2 s with 512‐Hz sampling rate, corresponding to about 1.4‐m vertical averaging) follows the Burr distribution suggested by Lozovatsky, Fernando, et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC013076 ). The bin‐median estimates of ε was well correlated with the medians of the Burr model. The parameters of the Burr distribution varied in time, but no relationship was found between these variations and the changes in wind patterns and phases of barotropic tide. In the range 10 −9 ~ < ε < 10 −8 W/kg, the dissipation rate could be related to internal wave activity in the region.