Laboratory and Numerical Modeling of Some Aspects of the Dynamics of the Arctic Ocean and its Adjacent Seas

南加州大学的调查人员将 进行研究，以模拟和调查一些重要的 在北冰洋已经确定的动力学过程 及邻近海域。 北冰洋及其邻近海域是 在全球变暖中起着重要作用，重要的是要了解 它在许多空间和时间尺度上的动力学行为。 在几 在冬季，密集的冷海水的主要来源 形成并下沉。 大部分的水到达很深的地方， 最终扩散到世界的海洋盆地。 这个热- 盐循环是了解长期的一个主要因素 海气耦合系统的演变。 这项工作将 研究这个问题的某些方面。 首先，机制 由此，由强烈的水流形成的稠密水的运动 冷却和/或冷冻由环境控制， 它是被创造出来的。 感兴趣的问题包括： 小尺度和中尺度涡旋结构的动力学， 通过卫星（IR）图像反复观察，并通过实地报告 在不同的北极地区进行调查。 B）形成 上混合层和下伏层之间的盐跃层 大西洋水，它往往保护冰盖从向上 热通量 c）上升流和/或下降流过程， 在边缘冰区被观察到。 （d）相互作用 陆架和盆地沃茨。 为了完成这项工作，无论是实验室实验和数值模拟， 将根据明确界定的目标进行计算。 广泛 一系列的一般性问题将从 最简单的对流实验与非均匀热通量的 其中几乎所有的控制参数 被合并。 在这种情况下， 可以研究这些不同的输入。

Investigators at the University of Southern California will undertake research to model and investigate some of the important dynamical processes that have been identified in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent Seas. The Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas play an important role in global warming, and it is important to understand its dynamical behavior on many space and time scales. At several locations during the winter, major sources of dense cold seawater are formed and sink. Much of this water reaches great depths and eventually spreads through the world's ocean basins. This thermo- haline circulation is a major factor in understanding the long-term evolution of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. This work will examine some aspects of this problem. Primarily, the mechanisms whereby the motion of the dense water that is formed by intense cooling and/or freezing is controlled by the environment in which it is created. Among the issues of interest are: a) The origin and dynamics of small and meso-scale eddy structures that have been observed repeatedly by satellite (IR) images and reported by field investigators at different Arctic locations. b) The formation of a halocline between the upper mixed layer and the underlaying Atlantic water, which tends to shield the ice cover from an upward heat flux. c) The upwelling and/or downwelling processes that have been observed in the marginal ice zones. d) Interaction between the shelf and the basin waters. To accomplish this work, both laboratory experiments and numerical calculations will be made with well defined objectives. A wide range of generic problems will be tackled starting from the simplest convection experiment with a non-uniform heat flux to the most complex in which virtually all of the controlling parameters are incorporated. In this way individual and combined effects of these various inputs can be studied.