Wind-based models for estimating the dissipation rates of turbulent energy in aquatic environments: empirical comparisons

The rate at which turbulent kinetic energy is dissipated influences growth, encounter probability, coagulation rates and vertical distribution of plankton. In this study we quantified the effectiveness with which boundary (wall) layer theory represents turbulent dissipation rates (E, W m-3) measured within natural surface mixing layers. This model explained 58 "/o of the variance in 818 literature-derived estimates of turbulent dissipation rates measured at 11 different geographic sites. The residual mean square error (RMSE) associated with the regression of loglo observed dissipation rate vs log,o predicted dissipation rate showed that ca 68 % of surface layer dissipation rates observed in nature were within a factor + 5.2-fold of dissipation rates estimated using boundary layer theory.