Shear flow induced interface instability

 A system of two stratified layers at a free surface, consisting of distilled water above a layer of salty water separated by an interface, is studied under laboratory conditions involving uniform temperature heating from below. Shadowgraph and particle images have been used with temperature and salt concentration measurements to investigate the interface instability induced by convection when it is developing in the upper and lower layer. It is found that the interface is governed by local shear flow that induces a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. Moreover, the entrainment interface is subject to a combination of two closely related effects: (1) double diffusion and convective motion and (2) double diffusion and Kelvin–Helmholtz instability.