| Deformation and mixing in any medium are controlled by its viscosity and elasticity. The present study provides preliminary information, at oceanic shear rates, on the viscosity and elasticity in the bulk phase of seawater. Thirty-two samples of seawater, obtained on cruises at four times of year in a meso-oligotrophic part of the Mediterranean, were measured for bulk-phase viscoelastic properties in an oscillating-shear Couette flow with measuring gap 0.5 mm, over shear rates gamma from 0.0021 to 0.286 s-1. Fifteen samples were obtained on a single cruise in the German Bight, North Sea, when Phaeocystis blooms were taking place, and these were similarly measured at gamma from 0.0021 to 0.973 s-1. The bulk-phase measurements suffered interference... |
