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: 1459482
• 负责人: Shane Elipot
• 金额: $ 27.59万
• 依托单位: University of Miami
• 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=1459482&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.

负责在整个海面边界层中分配动量的物理过程是海洋学社区中积极关注的主题。这种兴趣在很大程度上是由于在耦合的气候模型中正确参数化上海洋过程的核心重要性。 同时，海洋学的传统是通过研究风应力与观察到的表面电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理解在全球气候模型中准确参数化海面边界层所需的混合过程，这是一个重要的社会益处。 鉴于风能强迫的估计能力的任何改善都将引起溢油响应和其他实际应用的感兴趣。社区的关键输出将是对本地风流电流的改进估计，该电流将从全球漂流者计划的网站作为补充数据产品分发。该项目还将支持早​​期的科学家。该项目的目的是通过对风/电流传输功能的首次全球研究更好地了解海面边界层的动态。这是通过详细分析全球表面漂移阵列中风力强迫的反应来实现的，该响应对其15 m沟渠深度附近的洋流进行了采样。 （i）在上海区域研究区域的盐度过程中，将对全球分析进行通知和测试，靠近备受瞩目的空气通量系泊系泊，以及（ii）对最近改进的湍流封闭模型产生的合成数据，该模型明确包括langmuir trangmuir。风，波和分层状态基本修改近表面混合的假设将通过检查转移函数对各种环境参数（例如Langmuir数字）的依赖性进行测试。然后，将通过推导特征表征不同混合过程的预期传递函数的新理论近似来解释和审查观察到的模式。