TURBULENT TRANSPORT 343 



An estimate of the total southerly transport from the wind stress 

 is Ts = 3.10^ mVsec. An estimate of the area of the upper layer is 

 approximately 1.5-10^ km-. With these values the idealized ocean 

 must transport 4.5 • 10^^ cal/sec to the north. This is comparable to 

 the heat transported north by the atmosphere. The depth of the 

 upper layer determined by AT" and this Ts is 700 m. The average 

 vertical velocity PF approximately equals 2 • 10~* cm /sec, suggesting 

 a yearly incorporation of 60 m of cold water into the upper layer. 

 The required K approximately equals 14 cm'/sec and suggests 

 that the vertical turbulent transport of heat must be at least a 

 thousand times as effective as the molecular transfer of heat. 



Relation of Idealization to Mechanistic Studies 



The idealization of this highly simplified North Atlantic ocean 

 has two explicit purposes. The first purpose is to exhibit the role 

 of turbulent transport processes in controlling the structure and 

 amplitude of a wind and thermal-driven circulation. The second 

 purpose is to provide a setting in which to mention several recent 

 theoretical achievements in the study of detailed dynamics of parts 

 of the ocean. In attempting to fulfill the first purpose I have listed 

 the several turbulent mechanisms which are essential to sustain an 

 ocean-like circulation. Many less essential turbulent transports 

 were not mentioned and certain exist in the real ocean. I believe 

 that we can effectively study most of these turbulent phenomena 

 in isolation. For example, let us study just vertical heat transport, 

 then just horizontal momentum transport. In this fashion we may 

 construct an adequate language of inquiry and analysis for the 

 assembly of separate transports into an operating ocean. However, 

 an operating ocean is not necessarily the real ocean. We must be 

 increasingly critical of both our old preconceptions and our new 

 deductions in the observational and experimental tests. 



Related to our idealization is the dynamical study of Stommel 

 (1956) on the concentration of the southward moving cold water 

 to the west of the ocean basin. The experimental confirmation of 

 this deep current by Swallow and Worthington (1957) represents 

 one of the few victories of deductive oceanography. A second 

 study by Robinson and Stommel (1959) treats the two-layering 



