  The multifractal theory of turbulence is used to investigate the energy
cascade in the Northwestern Atlantic ocean. The statistics of singularity
exponents of velocity gradients computed from in situ measurements are used to
show that the anomalous scaling of the velocity structure functions at depths
between 50 ad 500 m has a linear dependence on the exponent characterizing the
strongest velocity gradient, with a slope that decreases with depth. Since the
distribution of exponents is asymmetric about the mode at all depths, we use an
infinitely divisible asymmetric model of the energy cascade, the log-Poisson
model, to derive the functional dependence of the anomalous scaling with
dissipation. Using this model we can interpret the vertical change of the
linear slope as a change in the energy cascade.
