Wind mixing plays an important role in the regime of the open ocean. This mixing begins at 

 the very surface of the ocean and gradually spreads to greater or lesser depths, depending on the 

 vertical density distribution, and on the intensity and duration of the wind. 



Naturally, the less the sea is stratified the less stable it is, and the less wind action that is 

 necessary for mixing. Thus, in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea, where the stability of 

 the surface layers is low, I often observed complete mixing of the surface layers to a depth of 30 to 

 40 meters after two or three days of stormy weather. 



The solid lines in figure 14 show the vertical distribution of temperature, salinity and spe- 

 cific volume at the Initial moment; the dotted lines the distribution of these same factors after wind 

 mixing, extending from the surface of the sea to a certain depth. Curve R shows, on a represent- 

 ative scale, the wind's action expended on frictional mixing from the surface of the sea to the given 

 depth. 



Figure 14. The vertical distribution of temperature, salinity 

 and specific volume after wind mixing. 



From the figure it is evident that the distinguishing feature of wind mixing is the destruction 

 of the stability of the mixed layers and the creation of large gradients of all the physical-chemical 

 properties of sea water at their lower boundary. It is also evident from the figure that with the 

 usual distribution of temperatures, the temperature of the sea surface drops somewhat, thanks to 

 wind mixing, and at a certain depth, it rises. In this manner, the heat absorbed by the surface 

 layers is conveyed downward. 



We should particularly stress the significance of wuid mixing for the thermal regime of the 

 ocean. It has been shown that the thermal energy of solar radiation is literally absorbed by the 

 first few centimeters of the surface layers of the sea. Actually, (if we exclude heat transport by 

 currents) the distribution of the heat absorbed by the surface layers is due only to frictional wind 

 mixing. 



But on the other hand, wind mixing, by creating large density gradients at the lower boundary, 

 limits by its very nature, as it were, the depths of its distribution. This phenomenon is particu- 

 larly well expressed with large salinity gradients in the surface layers. 



LITERATURE: 15, 62, 77. 



69 



