Dynamical downscaling of the submesoscale cascade of turbulence
Abstract
*Approved for Public Release*The currents of the equatorial Western Pacific impinge upon numerous ridges and island arcs. The intera ction of the flow with topography causes a cascade of motions from planetary to small ageostrophic scales. Vorticity and energy tran sfer to small scales are in turn believed to remove energy from the large scale mean flow of the equatorial current systems. The cas cade ultimately feeds energy to the fine- and microstructure scales, where instability mechanisms lead toturbulence and dissipation. We propose to study these cascades using high resolution models nested within nowcast/hindcast models in order to preserve the larg e scale mesoscale features that are well-represented in existing models but admit submesoscale physics. By tightly linking process o riented submesoscale nowcast/hindcast models to observational programs we can ensure the relevance of the modeling to the observati ons and to unambiguously assess the timescales of the submesoscale circulation and the spatial scales represented in a submesoscale model and to construct detailed regional budgets of flow parameters such as vorticity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 07, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112884
Entities
People
- Harper L. Simmons
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Alaska Fairbanks