New formulation of eddy diffusion thermocline models

One-dimensional thermal stratification models (for lakes, reservoirs, oceans, fjords), based on eddy diffusion concepts to represent vertical mixing of heat, have not found extensive application due to the lack of an adequate analytical representation of the neutral eddy diffusion coefficient, K_Ho. In this paper such an analytic expression is developed and shown to be in good agreement with various pieces of empirical evidence.