  To investigate the mechanism of mixing in oscillatory doubly diffusive (ODD)
convection, we truncate the horizontal modal expansion of the Boussinesq
equations to obtain a simplified model of the process. In the astrophysically
interesting case with low Prandtl number, large-scale shears are generated as
in ordinary thermal convection. The interplay between the shear and the
oscillatory convection produces intermittent overturning of the fluid with
significant mixing. By contrast, in the parameter regime appropriate to sea
water, large-scale flows are not generated by the convection. However, if such
flows are imposed externally, intermittent overturning with enhanced mixing is
observed.
