Upper Ocean Mixing Processes

stratiRed (vertical gradients of potential temperature, salinity and potential density, averaged horizontally or in time, are zero). The terminology is most precise in the case of a convectively forced boundary layer. Elsewhere, oceanographers use the term loosely to describe the region of the ocean that responds most directly to surface processes. Late in the day, following periods of strong heating, the mixed layer may be quite shallow (a few meters or less), extending to the diurnal thermocline. In winter and following series of storms, the mixed layer may extend vertically to hundreds of meters, marking the depth of the seasonal thermocline at midlatitudes. warmer than the mixed layer. Intermediate temperature maxima in the Antarctic Ocean are less pronounced (up to 0.53C) but occur persistently around Antarctica.