Isopycnal Transport and Mixing of Tracers by Submesoscale Flows Formed at Wind-Driven Ocean Fronts

Abstract

This project is part of the DRI on Scalable Lateral Mixing and Coherent Turbulence that aims to characterize lateral mixing in the ocean on scales of 10m-10 km, the submesoscales. Lateral mixing at the submesoscales is not accounted for in present-day ocean models. This deficiency is a potential source of error in the numerical prediction of the distribution of temperature, salt, nutrients, phytoplankton, pollutants, etc. in the upper ocean. The goal of the DRI is to develop parameterizations for submesoscale processes to improve the simulation of lateral mixing in ocean models.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2009
Accession Number
ADA531794

Entities

People

  • Leif N. Thomas

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Deficiencies
  • Dissipation
  • Earth Sciences
  • Energy
  • Geostrophic Currents
  • Gulf Stream
  • High Resolution
  • Mixing
  • Ocean Currents
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Simulations
  • Surface Waters
  • Three Dimensional
  • Transport Ships
  • Two Dimensional
  • Wind Stress

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers