On the splitting of atmospheric and oceanic turbulent billows

The evolution of a density stratified turbulent shearing layer in the presence of a gravity field is traced from an initial state as a discontinuity in density and velocity to a final state where the Richardson number approaches ¼ for a turbulent Prandtl number of unity. For the more realistic case of turbulent Prandtl number greater than unity, a model for the splitting of the initially single turbulent shearing layer into two separate turbulent layers is discussed.