The Hawaiian Ocean Mixing Experiment (HOME) is a large multi-investigator effort funded by NSF (http://nsf.gov) aimed at understanding the role of abrupt topography in mixing the ocean. More complete information about HOME can be found at the HOME webpage (http://chowder.ucsd.edu/home/).
<caption> An example
Marlin tow over the Hawaiian ridge. Bottom two plots are
velocity with Marlin's path in black and the path of a
depressor weight in grey. Middle plot is turbulent
dissipation rate. Second plot is shear squared near Marlin
(black) and stratification; where shear exceeds
stratification by a factor of four, we would expect high
dissipation. The top plot is temperature for both Marlin
and the depressor weight. </caption>
We have just submitted a paper to JPO detailing summarizing the turbulence dissipation near the ridge:
Klymak, J. M., J. N. Moum, J. D. Nash, E. Kunze, J. B. Girton, G. S. Carter, C. M. Lee, T. B. Sanford, and M. C. Gregg, 2004: An estimate of tidal energy lost to turbulence at the Hawaiian Ridge, submitted to: J. Phys. Oceanogr.
http://opg1.ucsd.edu/~jklymak/Home/KlymakEtAl04pp.pdf [3 Mb]
Jody Klymak - jklymak@uvic.ca