ocean mixing

From Glossary of Meteorology
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Any process or series of processes by which parcels of ocean water with different properties are brought into intimate small-scale contact, so that molecular diffusion erases the differences between them.

There is a distinction between stirring, which moves the water parcels into intimate contact, and mixing, the final process of molecular diffusion that blends the water parcels together. The term "mixing" is currently used to describe all of the processes, including molecular diffusion.


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