Observations of Boundary Mixing over the Continental Slope

Observations of mixing over the continental slope using a towed body reveal a great lateral extent (several kilometers) of continuously turbulent fluid within a few hundred meters of the boundary at depth 1600 m. The largest turbulent dissipation rates were observed over a 5 km horizontal region near a slope critical to the M 2 internal tide. Over a submarine landslide perpendicular to the continental slope, enhanced mixing extended at least 600 m above the boundary, increasing toward the bottom. The resulting vertical divergence of the heat flux near the bottom implies that fluid there must be replenished.