Near-slope turbulence in a Rockall canyon

The acknowledgement of the importance of small-scale turbulent mixing for the redistribution of heat, nutrients and suspended matter in the ocean has led to renewed interest in the breaking of internal waves at underwater topography. This follows from observations that turbulence intensity increases from the ocean interior to the seafloor. As two-dimensional models require reduction of turbulent buoyancy flux in the vicinity of the seafloor to allow for up-welling flows, the question is how thin such a layer of reduced turbulence above the seafloor can be. From an observational study in this subject, we present 400-day moored high-resolution temperature measurements in a Rockall canyon between 0.9 30 m, as established from spectral information. The lack of an observed mean near-seafloor buoyancy-flux reduction is hypothesized to be compensated by 3D-effects, temporary effects, less steep slope effects, or none at all.