The free-fall FLY profiler has been used to determine the variation in
energy dissipation epsilon in the water column over a tidal cycle at
mixed and stratified sites in the Irish Sea. It was found that epsilon
exhibits a strong M(4) variation with a pronounced phase lag that inc
reases with height above the bed. In mixed conditions this M(4) signal
, which extends throughout the water column, is reasonably well reprod
uced by turbulent closure models of the vertical exchange, In the summ
er stratified situation, the M(4) signal in epsilon is confined to abo
ut 40 m above the seabed with phase delays of more than 4 h relative t
o the seabed. The lowest levels of dissipation (similar to-10(-5) W m(
-3)), measured in the pycnocline, are significantly above the system n
oise level and much higher than predicted by a model using the Mellor-
Yamada level 2 closure scheme (MY2.0). However, when allowance is made
for the diffusion of TKE, the model (MY2.2) simulates the depth-time
distribution of dissipation in the stratified case satisfactorily if t
he diffusivity K-q = 0.2ql. With K-q set equal to vertical eddy viscos
ity N-z, which depends on the Richardson number Ri, the model underest
imates dissipation in the pycnocline by two decades, which would imply
the possibility of a midwater source of TKE. The observed depth-integ
rated dissipation is found to be consistent with estimates based on th
e energy lost from the tidal wave when adjustment is made for the unsa
mpled high energy region close to the bed.