Tkeáramlások

Tkeáramlások is a term used in fluid dynamics to describe a class of localized, transient flows that arise from the redistribution of turbulent kinetic energy within stratified fluids. The name combines the Hungarian word áramlások, meaning flows, with TKE, the abbreviation for turbulent kinetic energy.

These events are characterized by rapid vertical transport and enhanced mixing, moving heat, momentum, and tracers across density interfaces on short spatial and temporal scales.

They have been observed in oceanic and atmospheric contexts, particularly near thermoclines, fronts, topography, and in regions where shear and buoyancy interact strongly.

The mechanisms involve a combination of shear instabilities that transfer energy from the mean flow to velocity fluctuations, breaking internal or surface waves, and intermittent turbulent bursts that generate localized plumes and filaments.

Detection relies on high-resolution velocity and scalar measurements, such as microstructure profilers, CTD and ADCP deployments, tracer experiments, and, increasingly, high-resolution numerical simulations that resolve subgrid-scale processes.

Significance: Tkeáramlások contribute to vertical mixing and cross-interface transport, influencing heat, salt, nutrient, and pollutant budgets, and they are an active area of study for improving representations of turbulent mixing in climate and ocean-atmosphere models.

See also: Turbulent mixing, internal waves, shear instability, Langmuir circulations.