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Some aspects of the bottom boundary layer of the deep ocean are exhibited in profiles of salinity and temperature made with a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Brown CTD microprofiler. Profiles from the center of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain have a signature that is characteristic of mixing up a uniformly stratified region. Over rough or sloping topography, to the east and west of the abyssal plain, the profiles have more complicated structure. All profiles show a well‐mixed layer above the bottom; the penetration height of the layer varies from about 10 to 100 m and is correlated with the one‐day mean velocity, inferred from current meters located above the bottom boundary layer. Over the Hatteras Abyssal Plain the mixed layer extends above the bottom about 6 times the turbulent Ekman layer height. Over rough and sloping topography the penetration height is between the Ekman layer height and the height observed on the flat abyssal plain.

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