Collaborative Research: Global Observational Constraints on Oceanic Response to Wind Forcing

合作研究：海洋对风强迫响应的全球观测限制

• 批准号: 1458939
• 负责人: Ramsey Harcourt
• 金额: $ 8.06万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-04-01 至 2019-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1458939&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Global; Observational; Constraints

The physical processes responsible for distributing momentum throughout the ocean surface boundary layer are the subject of active concern in the oceanographic community. This interest is motivated to a large degree by the central importance of correctly parameterizing upper-ocean processes in coupled climate models. At the same time, there is a tradition in oceanography of seeking physical information by examining the nature of the relationship between wind stress and observed surface currents. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the mixing processes that are needed to accurately parameterize the ocean surface boundary layer in global climate models, an important societal benefit. Any improvement in the ability to estimate surface currents given the wind forcing is expected to be of interest for oil spill response and other practical applications. A key output for the community will be an improved estimate of the locally wind-driven currents, which will be distributed from the Global Drifter Program's website as a supplementary data product. This project will also support an early-career scientist.The goal of this project is to better understand the dynamics of the ocean surface boundary layer through the first global study of the wind/current transfer function. This is to be accomplished by analyzing in detail the response to wind forcing in the global array of surface drifters, which sample the ocean currents in the vicinity of their 15 m drogue depth. The global analysis is to be informed and tested by (i) a prototype study from the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study region, near a well-instrumented air-sea flux mooring, and (ii) analysis of synthetic data generated with a recently improved turbulence closure model that explicitly includes Langmuir turbulence. The hypotheses that wind, wave, and stratification state substantially modify near-surface mixing will be tested by examining dependencies of the transfer function on various environmental parameters, such as Langmuir number. Observed patterns will then be interpreted and scrutinized by deriving new theoretical approximations to the expected transfer functions characterizing different mixing processes.

负责在整个海洋表面边界层中分配动量的物理过程是海洋学界积极关注的主题。这种兴趣的动机在很大程度上是正确的参数化耦合气候模式中的海洋上层过程的核心重要性。 与此同时，海洋学有一个传统，即通过研究风应力与观测到的表面海流之间关系的性质来寻求物理信息。这项研究将有助于更好地了解在全球气候模型中准确地确定海洋表面边界层参数所需的混合过程，这是一项重要的社会效益。 在风强迫的情况下，估计表面流的能力的任何改进预计将对溢油反应和其他实际应用产生影响。该社区的一项关键产出将是改进对当地风力驱动的海流的估计，该估计将作为补充数据产品从全球漂流者方案的网站上分发。该项目还将支助一名初出茅庐的科学家，其目标是通过对风/流传递函数的首次全球研究，更好地了解海洋表面边界层的动态。这将通过详细分析全球表面漂流器阵列对风力的响应来实现，这些漂流器在其15 m锥管深度附近对洋流进行采样。全球分析将通过以下方式得到信息和进行测试：（i）在装备良好的海气通量系泊附近的上大洋区域研究区域进行盐度过程的原型研究;（ii）对最近改进的湍流闭合模型（明确包括朗缪尔湍流）生成的合成数据进行分析。风，波，和分层状态大幅修改近地表混合的假设将通过检查各种环境参数，如朗缪尔数的传递函数的依赖关系进行测试。观察到的模式，然后将得到新的理论近似的预期传递函数表征不同的混合过程进行解释和审查。