mixsea.overturn.thorpe_scale

mixsea.overturn.thorpe_scale(depth, q, dnoise)[source]

Estimate the Thorpe scale from unstable patches in a profile.

Parameters:

  • depth (array-like) – Depth [m] (negative if below sea surface).

  • q (array-like) – Quantity from which Thorpe scales will be computed, e.g. density or temperature. If using temperature, consider multiplying by -1 to get around the fact that temperature generally decreases with depth.

  • dnoise (float, optional) – Uncertainty or noise in q.

Returns:

  • Lt (ndarray) – Thorpe scale [m].

  • thorpe_disp (ndarray) – Thorpe displacement [m].

  • q_sorted (ndarray) – q sorted to be monotonically increasing.

  • noise_flag (ndarray) – True if difference in q from top to bottom patch is less than dnoise.

  • ends_flag (ndarray) – True if a patch includes and end point.

  • Ro (ndarray) – Overturn ratio of Gargett & Garner (2008).

  • idx_patches (ndarray) – Indices of overturning patches, e.g. idx_patches[:, 0] are start indices and idx_patches[:, 1] are end indices.

  • idx_sorted (ndarray) – Indices required to sort q so as to generate q_sorted.

  • Lp (ndarray) – Patch size (vertical extent of overturn) [m].