Fig. 5: Results of model experiments that compare the temperature characteristics of the water column with and without a mixing event.

The water column temperature structures with the a stratified and b mixed initial conditions, i.e., without and with the storm mixing (cases B1 and B2 in Table 1, respectively); the black contours in (a) and (b) indicate isotherms (26, 28, and 30 °C). c The depth-average temperature from cases B1 (red, stratified), B2 (blue, mixed), and B3 (cyan, mixed with initial heat loss from a storm event); note that the mixed cases (B2 and B3) end nearly 1 °C warmer than the stratified case (B1). d The depth-average temperature difference between the mixed (cases C1b–C4b) and stratified (cases C1a–C4a) model experiments with idealized temperature profiles with water depths of 20 (magenta), 30 (orange), 40 (yellow), and 60 m (gray); see Table 1 for a summary description of different cases and Fig. 4 for the initial temperature profiles used. For all model experiments, the net outward radiation was estimated using the bulk formulations in ref. ²².