Vertical diffusivity definition
Vertical diffusivity. The level of mixing is most usefully described by a vertical diffusion coefficient, here denoted !. While the nature of turbulence is that it is patchily distributed in time and space, and diffusion coefficients vary over several orders of magnitude, patterns do emerge in the global distribution of !. An excellent summary, based on an extensive dataset, is described by (▇▇▇▇▇ et al., 2006), with higher values toward the seabed and over areas of topographic complexity. As a rule of thumb, ! = 10!!!!! would be a relatively large diffusivity for a deep sea environment, with greater levels found in mixing hotspots resulting from flow-topography interaction.