Collaborative Research - SGER - Model Verification of Radiation of Barotropic Energy from the Gulf Stream

通过分析最先进的海洋环流模型的输出，将探讨洋流失去从风中获得的能量的一个基本过程。主要目的是确定远离墨西哥湾流系统的正压能量的辐射特性。这些结果将用于指导现场观测程序的设计。现代海洋环流模式在强流（如墨西哥湾流）和实际地形存在的情况下，是否能正确地模拟中尺度正压变率的物理特性，并不是先验的。这项工作的最终结果，将包括与真实海洋数据的模型比较，可能只会揭示模型的不足之处，而对真实海洋中正压辐射的性质提供的见解很少。至少，关于现代模式模拟海洋正压变率的能力（或缺乏能力）的信息应该会导致模式的改进。更广泛的影响。这项工作的结果将提供一种现象的信息，这种现象对洋流动力学很重要，但很难分离出来。只要这些信息导致了海洋环流模式的改进，人们就可以预期依赖这些模式的现象研究随后会有所改进，例如，气候变异、生态系统进化和二氧化碳封存的研究，仅举几个更广泛的应用。

0404499/0401385/0405766A fundamental process by which ocean currents lose the energy acquired from the wind will be explored through analyses of output from state-of-the-art ocean general circulation models. The main goal is to determine the characteristics of radiation of barotropic energy away from the Gulf Stream system. The results will then be used to guide the design of a field program to observe the phenomenon. It is not a priori certain that the modern ocean general circulation models are properly simulating the physics of mesoscale barotropic variability in the presence of strong currents (like the Gulf Stream) and realistic topography. The end result of this work, which will include model comparisons with real ocean data, might only reveal the inadequacies of the models, while providing little insight into the nature of barotropic radiation in the real ocean. At least, information about the ability (or lack thereof) of modern models to simulate the ocean's barotropic variability should lead to model improvements. Broader Impacts. The results from this work will provide information on a phenomenon that is important to the dynamics of ocean currents but is difficult to isolate. Insofar as this information leads to improvements of models of the ocean's general circulation, one can expect subsequent improvements in studies of phenomena that rely on such models, e.g., studies of climate variability, ecosystem evolution, and CO2 sequestration, to name just a few broader applications.