Temperature-driven overturning experiment – the easy way
In my last post, I showed you the legendary overturning experiment. And guess what occurred to me? That there is an even easier way to show the same thing. No gel pads! (BUT! And that is a BIG BUT! Melting of ice cubes in lukewarm water is NOT the process that drives the “real” overturning! For a slightly longer version of this post check this out).
So. Tank full of luke warm water. Red dye on one end. Spoiler alert: This is going to be the “warm” end.
Now. Ice cubes on the “cold” end. For convenience, they have been dyed blue so that the cold melt water is easily identifiable as cold.
A very easy way to get a nice stratification! And as you see in the video below, awesome internal waves on the interface, too.
And because I know you like a “behind the scenes”:
I took this picture sitting on my sofa. The experiment is set up on the tea table. The white background is a “Janosch” calendar from 15 years ago, clipped to the back of a chair. And that is how it is done! :-)
Sea ice formation, brine release, or: What ice cubes can tell you about your freezer | Mirjam S. Glessmer says:
[…] Many of my kitchen oceanography experiments use dyed ice cubes, usually because it makes it easier to track the melt water (for example when looking at how quickly ice cubes melt in freshwater vs salt water, or for forcing overturning circulations). […]