Interleaving models of pure thermohaline and baroclinic frontal zones are applied to describe intrusions at the fronts found in the upper part of the Deep Polar Water (DPW) when the stratification was absolutely stable. It is assumed that differential mixing is the main mechanism of the intrusion formation. Important parameters of the interleaving such as the growth rate, vertical scale, and slope of the most unstable modes relative to the horizontal plane are calculated. It was found that the interleaving model for a pure thermohaline front satisfactory describes the important intrusion parameters observed at the frontal zone. In the case of a baroclinic front, satisfactory agreement over all the interleaving parameters is observed between the model calculations and observations provided that the vertical momentum diffusivity significantly exceeds the corresponding coefficient of mass diffusivity. Under specific (reasonable) constraints of the vertical momentum diffusivity, the most unstable mode has a vertical scale approximately two-three times smaller than the vertical scale of the observed intrusions. A thorough discussion of the results is presented. © 2014, Pleiades Publishing, Inc.

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 10-05-00467-a)

10 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables

Peer Reviewed