 |
Center for Nonlinear Studies |
The ocean expresses turbulent flow that is important kinematically, as it controls the spreading of tracers and transports of water masses, and dynamically, as it has non-trivial contributions to the force, energy and vorticity budgets. As the turbulent properties simulated in ocean models are extremely sensitive to the choice of parameterizations, it is extremely important that observational measurements are obtained to ground truth the ocean models. Lagrangian instruments, water parcel following, provide an excellent platform to measure the surface and deep ocean properties. In this talk we present results from three observational experiments: a) Diapycnal and Isopyncal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES), which measured the mid-depth flow in a sector situated south of South America. b)Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD), which measured the surface flow in the Gulf of Mexico. c) Argo Floats, which are analyzed to obtain flow properties in the Southern Ocean. The results focus on estimates of eddy diffusivity – the bulk effect of eddies on lateral transport in the ocean, structure functions – useful to characterize the turbulent regimes of large scale flows, and relative dispersion – characterizing the spreading properties of tracers at scales smaller than dominant eddy scales (<100km).
Host: Joseph Schoonover