OCE-PRF Track 2 (International): Modeling ocean biogeochemical dynamics in wind-forced fronts and eddies

在这个项目中，一名博士后研究员的目标是对控制海洋初级生产和出口生产的物理和生物动力学进行基于过程的理解。研究的重点是亚中尺度锋面和涡旋的物理和生物动力学，特别是实际高频风对这些动力学的影响。更好地了解这些动态将有助于更好地了解全球碳循环。该项目在研究员和赞助科学家之间建立了真正的智力和跨学科合作，剑桥大学的约翰泰勒和皮埃尔和玛丽居里大学的玛丽娜列维。该奖项得到了国际和综合活动办公室的资助。每年，海洋微生物将大约50毫克的无机碳（以二氧化碳的形式）转化为有机碳，约占地球上所有初级碳产量的一半。这些有机碳形成了整个海洋生态系统的营养基础。此外，大约四分之一的有机碳被输送到深海，在那里它可能与大气隔绝几个世纪。然而，这些生物地球化学动力学在很大程度上被上层海洋的非均匀物理所改变，其特征是锋面和漩涡的虚拟蜘蛛网，并定期被持续和可变的大气强迫所改变。在全球海洋和地球系统模式中，这些动力学发生在比网格单元更小的尺度上，因此理解和参数化这些动力学是至关重要的。为了实现这一目标，研究员将使用复杂程度多层次的数值模型来探索三个关键问题：1)真实的高频风如何影响海洋锋面和涡旋的初级和出口生产？2)哪些物理、生物和化学机制控制着这些环境中的动力学？结果对不同参数的敏感性如何？3)锋面和涡旋如何改变生物群落组成？该研究将有助于为改进上层海洋物理和生物地球化学参数化奠定基础。了解和参数化这些动力学将使地球系统的过去、现在和未来的全球模型更加精确。

In this project, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow aims to develop a process-based understanding of the physical and biological dynamics that control primary and export production in the ocean. The focus of the research is on the physical and biological dynamics in submesoscale fronts and eddies and, in particular, on the effects of realistic high-frequency winds on these dynamics. Improved understanding of these dynamics will contribute to a better understanding of the global carbon cycle. This project builds a truly intellectual and cross-disciplinary collaboration between the fellow and sponsoring scientists, John Taylor, University of Cambridge, and Marina Levy, University Pierre et Marie Curie. This award was supported with funding from the Office of International and Integrative Activities.Every year, oceanic microbes convert about fifty Pg of inorganic carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) into organic carbon, accounting for about half of all primary production on the planet. This organic carbon then forms the trophic base of the entire marine ecosystem. Moreover, perhaps a quarter of the organic carbon created is exported to the deep ocean, where it may remain sequestered from the atmosphere for centuries. However, these biogeochemical dynamics are substantially modified by the heterogeneous physics of the upper ocean, which is characterized by a virtual spider web of fronts and eddies and regularly modified by persistent and variable atmospheric forcing. In global ocean and earth system models, these dynamics occur at scales smaller than a grid cell, therefore it is essential to understand and parameterize these dynamics. In pursuit of this effort, the fellow will use numerical models at multiple levels of complexity to explore three key questions: 1) How do realistic high-frequency winds affect primary and export production in ocean fronts and eddies? 2) What physical, biological and chemical mechanisms control the dynamics in these environments and how sensitive are the results to different parameters? 3) How do fronts and eddies modify biological community composition? This research will help lay the groundwork for improved parameterizations of upper ocean physics and biogeochemistry. Understanding and parameterizing these dynamics will enable more accurate global modeling of the earth system - past, present and future.