NSFGEO-NERC: Energy transfer between submesoscale vortices and resonantly-forced inertial motions in the northern Gulf of Mexico

NSFGEO-NERC：墨西哥湾北部亚中尺度涡旋和共振强迫惯性运动之间的能量转移

• 批准号: NE/T004223/1
• 负责人: John Taylor
• 金额: $ 30.49万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FT004223%2F1
• 关键词: NSFGEO; NERC; Energy; transfer; between

Submesoscale flows and near-inertial motions are ubiquitous features of the upper ocean. Recently developed theories have posited that the interaction of submesoscale flows and near-inertial motions could play an important role in closing the energy budgets of both the balanced circulation and the unbalanced waves. These theories have yet to be fully tested in the field due to the challenges of observing both types of motions in a relatively controlled setting. The northern Gulf of Mexico is a natural laboratory that is ideal for doing this. Here, the Mississippi-Atchafalaya river plume forms a rich field of submesoscale eddies and fronts, which in the summer are driven by a land-sea breeze that forces inertial motions at near resonance.The proposed research will involve intensive field campaigns utilizing novel observational techniques that will be closely integrated with idealized and realistic numerical simulations to study the interaction of submesoscale eddies and near-inertial motions in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya river plume. The objective will be to characterize, quantify, and understand the energy exchanges between balanced and unbalanced motions and the turbulent cascade that can result from the interaction. More specifically, the numerical and observational experiments will be designed to test the hypotheses that periodic straining of isopycnals by inertial motions in fronts, subduction of low potential vorticity water, and the propagation, trapping, and reflection of near-inertial waves interacting with submesoscale eddies facilitate the energy exchange and result in enhanced mixing throughout the water column.The proposed research tackles one of the outstanding questions in physical oceanography of how the kinetic energy in the balanced circulation is dissipated, in particular through wave-mean flow interactions. This question has been studied mostly theoretically for idealized flow configurations, but it has not been explored observationally in a controlled setting, as proposed here. The research will integrate observations with submesoscale-resolving simulations and large-eddy simulations, a combination that has proven to be effective in understanding the fundamental physics of complex, multi- scale observed flows.

次中尺度流动和近惯性运动是上层海洋普遍存在的特征。最近发展的理论认为，亚中尺度流动和近惯性运动的相互作用可以在关闭平衡环流和不平衡波的能量预算方面发挥重要作用。由于在相对受控的环境中观察两种类型的运动存在挑战，这些理论尚未在现场得到充分测试。墨西哥湾北部是一个天然的实验室，非常适合这样做。在这里，密西西比-阿查法拉亚河羽流形成了丰富的亚中尺度涡流和锋面，在夏季，这些涡流和锋面由陆海微风驱动，迫使惯性运动接近共振。拟议的研究将涉及利用新颖的观测技术进行密集的实地活动将与理想化和现实的数值模拟紧密结合，研究密西西比-阿查法拉亚河中亚尺度涡流和近惯性运动的相互作用羽。目标是表征、量化和理解平衡和不平衡运动之间的能量交换以及相互作用可能产生的湍流级联。更具体地说，数值和观测实验将旨在测试以下假设：锋面惯性运动导致等重线的周期性应变、低位涡水的俯冲以及与亚中尺度涡流相互作用的近惯性波的传播、捕获和反射促进能量交换并增强整个水体的混合。拟议的研究解决了物理海洋学中的突出问题之一，即平衡环流中的动能如何消散，特别是通过波平均流相互作用。这个问题主要是针对理想化流动配置进行了理论上的研究，但尚未在受控环境中进行观察性探索，如此处所提出的。该研究将把观测与亚尺度解析模拟和大涡模拟相结合，这种组合已被证明可以有效地理解复杂、多尺度观测流的基本物理原理。

项目成果

Rapid vertical exchange at fronts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

墨西哥湾北部锋面的快速垂直交换。

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.90071
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Qu L

Including the effects of subsurface currents on buoyant particles in Lagrangian particle tracking models: Model development and its application to the study of riverborne plastics over the Louisiana/Texas shelf

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2021.101879
• 发表时间: 2021-11
• 期刊: Ocean Modelling
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Jun‐Hong Liang;Jinliang Liu;M. Benfield;D. Justić;D. Holstein;Bingqing Liu;R. Hetland;D. Kobashi;C. Dong;Weiyuan Dong

Submesoscale Dynamics in the Upper Ocean

上层海洋的亚尺度动力学

• DOI: 10.1146/annurev-fluid-031422-095147
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics
• 影响因子: 27.7
• 作者: Taylor J

The Effects of Surface Wind Stress and Buoyancy Flux on the Evolution of a Front in a Turbulent Thermal Wind Balance

表面风应力和浮力通量对湍流热风平衡中锋面演化的影响

• DOI: 10.3390/fluids5020087
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Fluids
• 影响因子: 1.9
• 作者: Crowe M

The influence of front strength on the development and equilibration of symmetric instability. Part 1. Growth and saturation

锋面强度对对称不稳定性发展和平衡的影响。

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.72615
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Wienkers A