U.S.-U.K. Cooperative Research: Seasonal Gyres in the Coastal Ocean

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9413299 Garvine This two-year award supports U.S.-U.K. cooperative research in coastal oceanography between two research teams led by Richard W. Garvine, University of Delaware, and A.E. Hill at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales. The objective of the research is to directly observe, using free-drifting buoys, the flow regime of baroclinic gyres (or spirals) in shelf seas which form in spring/summer each year. These gyres are produced in topographical depressions by differing amounts of tidal mixing between the shallow edges and deep center of the depressions. Though a newly discovered phenomenon, seasonal baroclinic gyres appear to have important ecological consequences for dispersal of contaminants in coastal waters, on retention of planktonic larvae, and on the nature of shelf sea circulation. The researchers will conduct joint field observations of seasonal baroclinic gyres off the coast of Scotland and then apply a series of modeling studies to the observational data. The United Kingdom will provide ship time on the research vessel RRS Challenger. By combining the modeling capabilities and observational resources of the two research groups, especially in satellite-tracked drifters, the researchers will obtain optimal coverage and resolution of shelf sea circulation.