Interleaving and Mixing of North Pacific Tropical Water in the South China Sea

Abstract

We propose to collect and analyze hydrographic, current, and turbulence data from1) a drifting array of Wirewalkers and 2) ship-based pro ling measurements with the goal of identifying the processes responsible for modi cation of upper ocean watermasses in the South China Sea (SCS). We will determine what instability processes in regions of strong lateral gradients created by Kuroshio intrusions into the SCSdrive the consequent mixing processes which lead to the decay of observed interleaving features. Such small-scale pathways of water-mass modi cation may have an outsizedand under-appreciated impact on both the hydrography of the SCS and, more generally, the evolution of west boundary currents.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2016
Source ID
N000141612937

Entities

People

  • Andrew J. Lucas

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • University of California, San Diego

Tags

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Oceanography.