Ocean mixing and internal waves

海洋混合和内波

• 批准号: 140128-2009
• 负责人: Kelley, Daniel
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=422392
• 关键词: Ocean; mixing; internal; waves

Over the past several decades, Oceanographers have created numerical models of the ocean, akin to weather models. As with weather models, improvements have come along as computing power has increased, making it possible to simulate a wider fraction of the observed ocean phenomena. For example, the first ocean models were too coarse to resolve the approximately ten-kilometre scale ocean eddies, but it is now becoming possible to do this, at least for short-term predictions. Unfortunately, there are important ocean phenomena that are too small to be handled by any imaginable computer. A case in point is ocean mixing, which occurs on centimetre scales, far below the 10-kilometre limit of today's models. Ocean measurements reveal that this mixing occurs in complicated patterns, and sensitivity tests with models indicate that small variations in those patterns create large changes in the overall state of the ocean. That leaves Oceanographers in a bind. The only solution seems to be to parameterize the mixing, i.e. to approximate its affects using only the large-scale properties that the models can handle directly. My work centres on creating such parameterizations of various ocean mixing phenomena. The focus over the next several years will be mixing caused by high-frequency internal waves in coastal waters. Funded by NSERC and CFCAS, my group has amassed a particularly detailed set of observations of the phenomenon. The hope is to use this along with small-scale numerical simulations to develop more reliable parameterizations of this mode of mixing.

在过去的几十年中，海洋学家创建了类似于天气模型的海洋数值模型。 与天气模型一样，随着计算能力的增加，改进也会发生，从而可以模拟观察到的海洋现象的更大一部分。 例如，第一个海洋模型太粗糙而无法解决大约十公里的尺度海洋涡流，但是现在至少对于短期预测而言，现在有可能这样做。 不幸的是，有一些重要的海洋现象太小，无法通过任何可想象的计算机处理。 一个很好的例子是海洋混合，它发生在厘米尺度上，远低于当今型号的10公里极限。 海洋测量结果表明，这种混合以复杂的模式发生，而使用模型的灵敏度测试表明，这些模式的较小变化在整个海洋状态上会造成很大的变化。 这使海洋学家陷入困境。 唯一的解决方案似乎是对混合进行参数化，即仅使用模型可以直接处理的大规模属性近似其影响。 我的工作集中在创建各种海洋混合现象的参数化。 未来几年的重点将是由沿海水域高频内波引起的混合。 由NSERC和CFCA资助，我的小组积累了一组对该现象的观察。 希望将其与小型数值模拟一起使用，以开发这种混合方式的更可靠的参数化。