A series of exploratory laboratory experiments has been carried out to model an 'inverse estuary,' in which density differences and outflows were generated by heating and evaporation on a shallow shelf. This shelf was connected to a deep, long region of uniform depth through a steep slope. The experimental tank was filled with homogeneous salt solution, and the shelf region heated with infrared lamps to produce temperature and salinity anomalies; fresh water was added at the far end of the tank to keep the depth (and the mean salinity) constant. The emphasis in these experiments was on the influence in a closed region of horizontal differences of T and S together; i.e., on the double-diffusive effects, which are quite different from those due to a simple source of buoyancy in the shallow region.
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