Transport and Modification of Near-Surface and Intermediate Waters by the Gulf Stream along the US East Coast

美国东海岸湾流对近地表和中层水域的输送和改变

• 批准号: 1923362
• 负责人: Robert Todd
• 金额: $ 29.69万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1923362&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Transport; Modification; Near; Surface; Intermediate

The Gulf Stream is a major part of the global climate system transporting warm waters from the tropics toward mid-latitudes. Despite decades of study, understanding of the quantity and types of water carried by the Gulf Stream as it flows along the US East Coast remains incomplete, in part due to historically sparse subsurface data. Recent observations from autonomous underwater gliders as well as long-term observations from other platforms such as buoys, will be used to examine Gulf Stream transport along the entire US East Coast. The research will examine how the Gulf Stream varies along its flow path, identify changes in its water characteristics, and evaluate future needs for observing this important ocean current. The results of the analysis should also be valuable for comparing with numerical models of the ocean circulation. This project will support a Ph.D. student who will be actively involved in all aspects of the project, including data processing, analysis, and publication of results. Results will be incorporated in educational efforts for the MIT-WHOI Joint Program and summer undergraduate programs such as the WHOI Summer Student Fellow program and the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program. The PI and student will continue to participate in media and public events that showcase the research.This work relies heavily on an unprecedented set of over 150 high-resolution glider-based transects across the Gulf Stream that have been collected over the past several years. Building on previous work with subsets of the glider observations, the analyses will make use of the full, multi-year set of observations, complemented by measurements from other platforms, to comprehensively examine spatial variability in the time-mean volume and temperature transport of the Gulf Stream along the US East Coast. No such examination of a western boundary current has previously been possible from observations, so these results will serve as key benchmarks. With over 20,000 hydrographic profiles from gliders alone, the available data set also offers a unique opportunity to examine the distribution and modification of subsurface water masses along the continental margin, which will lead to better understanding of the role of those water masses in the climate system. Products of the analyses, such as time-mean transports as a function of along-stream distance, can be used for the validation of numerical models and for guiding boundary current observational efforts globally. Analyses carried out as part of this project will guide the development of comprehensive and fit-for-purpose observing systems for the Gulf Stream and other western boundary currents and will be disseminated to the communities engaged in the planning and developing a global boundary current observing network.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

墨西哥湾流是全球气候系统的主要部分，将温暖的水从热带地区运送到中纬度地区。尽管进行了数十年的研究，但对海湾流沿着美国东海岸流动的水数量和类型的了解仍然不完整，部分原因是历史上稀疏的地下数据。自主水下滑翔机以及其他平台（例如浮标）的长期观察的最新观察将用于检查整个美国东海岸沿线的海湾流运输。该研究将研究海湾流的流动路径如何变化，确定其水特征的变化，并评估观察这一重要海洋电流的未来需求。分析的结果对于与海洋循环的数值模型进行比较也很有价值。该项目将支持博士学位。将积极参与项目各个方面的学生，包括数据处理，分析和结果。结果将纳入MIT-WHOI联合计划和夏季本科课程的教育工作中，例如Whoi Summer Student Allow计划和Woods Hole Partnership Education计划。 PI和学生将继续参加展示研究的媒体和公共活动。这项工作在很大程度上依赖于过去几年收集的整个海湾流中前所未有的150多个高分辨率基于滑翔机的样本。在先前与滑翔机观测值的工作的基础上，分析将利用整个多年的观测值，并通过来自其他平台的测量值进行补充，以全面地检查墨西哥湾流沿美国东海岸的时间均值量和温度传输的空间变化。以前观察到以前没有对西部边界电流进行这种检查，因此这些结果将作为关键基准。仅凭滑翔机的20,000多个水文剖面，可用的数据集还提供了一个独特的机会，可以检查沿大陆边缘的地下水质量的分布和修改，这将使人们更好地了解这些水质量在气候系统中的作用。分析的产物，例如时间均值传输与沿线距离的函数，可用于验证数值模型，并在全球范围内指导边界当前的观察工作。作为该项目的一部分进行的分析将指导开发针对海湾流和其他西部边界电流的全面和拟合的观测系统，并将分散到参与规划和开发全球边界当前观察网络的社区。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，反映了通过评估商标的支持和范围的范围。

项目成果

Along-Stream Evolution of Gulf Stream Volume Transport

• DOI: 10.1175/jpo-d-19-0303.1
• 发表时间: 2020-08-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Heiderich, Joleen;Todd, Robert E.
• 通讯作者: Todd, Robert E.

Gulf Stream Mean and Eddy Kinetic Energy: Three‐Dimensional Estimates From Underwater Glider Observations

墨西哥湾流平均动能和涡流动能：水下滑翔机观测的三维估计

• DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090281
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Geophysical Research Letters
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Todd, Robert E.