We discuss the experimental methodology and present the results of several
experiments on the onset and growth of instabilities in stratified shear fl
ow. Our results include the assessment of the effective diffusivity prior t
o the development of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) type instability and the me
asurement of the velocity field. This allows us to determine that the onset
of the instability takes place when the Richardson number is close to 0.25
, this value slightly decreasing with increasing initial interface thicknes
s. The formation of a fine layered structure at the interface is suggested
by density profiles taken immediately after the generation of K-H billows,
but the size of the full interface as well as the layers themselves decreas
e in the following few seconds. We hypothesize that the time scale of the K
-H billows in our laboratory experiments is so short that there is no time
for added mixing to further distribute and smoothen the initial layer struc
ture.