Collaborative Research: The Effect of Submesoscale Processes on Property Fluxes and Distributions in the Upper Ocean

海洋表面和海洋内部之间的垂直运输在各种过程中起着重要作用，包括为浮游生物生产提供营养物质，以及与大气交换气体、热量和动量。控制这些性质的机制是我们对上层海洋理解的一个长期问题。一公里量级(称为次中尺度)的特征在这些过程中发挥着重要作用。在这项研究中，来自波士顿大学和马萨诸塞大学达特茅斯分校的科学家将使用一个高分辨率的上层海洋锋面数值模式，以探索这些特征的动力学及其对垂直输送、混合和特性分布的影响。它们有三个假设：1)在水平密度梯度和风应力的存在下，亚中尺度不稳定产生强烈的垂直速度；2)这些过程因此加强了营养物质的供应和与大气的溶解气体交换；3)高应变区域(在该区域中，营养物质等性质的细丝被拉伸和搅拌)也是局部强烈垂直运动的区域。这个项目将加深我们对亚中尺度过程的理解，这是目前物理海洋学中非常感兴趣的一个领域。它把重点放在这些过程如何影响被动示踪剂上，这一点特别具有创新性，因为它有可能广泛影响其他学科。

ABSTRACTOCE-0623513Vertical transport between the sea surface and the interior of the ocean is instrumental in a variety of processes including the supply of nutrients for plankton production as well as the exchanges of gases, heat and momentum with the atmosphere. The mechanisms that control these properties is a long-standing question on our understanding of the upper ocean. Features on the order of one kilometer ( as scale known as the submesoscale) play an important role in these processes. In this study, scientists from Boston University and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, will use a high-resolution numerical model of an upper ocean front, in order to explore the dynamics of these features and their effects on vertical transport, mixing and the distribution of properties. They have three hypotheses: 1) in the presence of horizontal density gradients and wind stress, submesoscale instabilities generate intense vertical velocities; 2) these processes thus enhance nutrient supply and the exchange of dissolved gases with the atmosphere; 3) regions of high strain (in which filaments of properties such as a nutrients are stretched and stirred) are also regions of localized intense vertical motions. This project will further our understanding of submesoscale processes, an area of great current interest in physical oceanography. Its focus on how these processes impact passive tracers is particularly innovative because it has the potential to broadly impact other disciplines.