CAREER: From the Lab to the Ocean: Experimental modeling of Internal Tide Generation by Topography

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OCE-0645529Intellectual merit: Internal-wave generation in the deep ocean is currently a very active research topic because of the recent recognition of its important role in deep-ocean mixing. The intellectual merit of the work is in the laboratory investigation of outstanding, fundamental issues regarding internal-wave generation by deep-ocean bathymetry, for which there is a significant absence of experimental data. Although lab-scale, the proposed experiments are directly relevant to ocean processes. The outstanding issues addressed in study are the modal composition, energy-flux and instabilities of internal tides from 2D and 3D bathymetry. This timely investigation will expand current observational, numerical and theoretical understanding of internal-wave generation through sophisticated laboratory experiments. The experiments will generate detailed spatiotemporal data in regimes that are not amenable to current theoretical and numerical models, and for which field studies can inevitably provide only sparse data in uncontrolled environments. This research will also develop synergistic numerical modeling of the experiments.Broader impact: Internal waves impact the Earth's climate and modern-day underwater technology. Future theoretical and numerical models that have been validated by our benchmark data, made available through a website, will enhance our ability to predict the environmental and technological impact of internal waves. A new partnership between MIT and UCLA will be established that will be instrumental for the development of a non-hydrostatic ROMS model, which has promise to become a next-generation community ocean model. Through this new partnership and involvement in ocean-going research, the CAREER award will facilitate fruitful collaboration of scientific groups with different backgrounds, encouraging exchange of ideas and methodologies. The PI has included letters of collaboration from Prof. McWilliams and Assistant Prof. Alford to attest to the utility and excitement generated by the experimental results. The PI will use his state-of-the-art experimental facilities for hands-on teaching of K-12, undergraduate and graduate students. High-school and undergraduate students will perform experiments integrated with the CAREER research goals; with assessment provided by educators at MIT. A new graduate-course module on internal tides will be developed, and two Ph.D. students in the MIT-Woods Hole Joint Program, one a female, minority student, will be trained in laboratory and ocean-going research. The PI will participate in a summer program for science educators, for which he will organize sessions on ocean science. Letters of collaboration from the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence, the Research Science Institute, the MIT-Woods Hole Joint Program and the Science and Engineering Program for Teachers testify their commitment to supporting the PI's education plan.