LES of turbulent stratified flows on shallow continental shelves

Turbulent shear flow on shallow continental shelves (here shallow means that the interaction with the solid, no slip bottom is important) are of great importance because tides and wind driven flow on the shelf are drivers of the transfer of momentum, heat, and mass (gas) across the air-sea interface. We use Large Eddy simulation to study and quantify the impact of a stable stratification on the dynamic of shear driven and pressure gradient driven turbulent flows. These computations are compared to the corresponding unstratified flows to provide a better understanding of the physics governing the interaction between stratification and turbulent flows.