Collaborative Research: The internal Surfzone: Wave-averaged circulation driven by nonlinear internal waves shoaling over spatially-varying bathymetry

在沿海地区的非线性内波传输有很强的跨学科联系，生物海洋学通过浮游生物和营养物质的运输;地质和地球化学海洋学通过沉积物的运输;和沿海工程/管理通过运输和人为物质的分散，如污水排放口的污水。本研究的总体目标是了解的动力学管理的动量通量从浅水非线性内波的平均电流;的规模和结构的平均流量驱动的浅水内波在理想条件下;和规模和空间结构的净质量运输与浅水内波。尽管非线性内波在沿海海洋中无处不在的性质，很少有三维的研究存在，包括在垂直于传播的方向上的地形的变化。这项研究是第一次尝试量化内波和由它们产生的平均流量所迫使的传输路径，预计将产生广泛适用于跨学科海洋学和沿海管理的结果和方法。该项目将支持一名博士后研究员和一名研究生的专业发展。该方法是基于最先进的，三维的，非流体静力学的数值模型与自适应网格功能。此外，还将分析先前研究期间在马萨诸塞州湾收集的数据。 这是第一个研究系统地解决平均流量和运输驱动的非线性内波变浅超过水深变化的两个维度。该研究包括两个组成部分：一个建模组件，用于研究在各种情况下的动量和水的质量传输越来越现实，和一个数据分析组件，将考虑相同的问题，使用广泛的数据集，可从一系列的实验在马萨诸塞州湾在过去的16年。建模部分将用于帮助解释数据。该模型（分层海洋模型与自适应细化），开发部分资金来自以前的国家科学基金会的建议，是一个国家的最先进的三维非流体静力分层海洋模型，采用自适应网格细化，以有效地利用计算资源，增加分辨率的需求在必要时。

Transport by nonlinear internal waves in coastal regions has strong interdisciplinary ties to biological oceanography through transport of plankton and nutrients; geological and geochemical oceanography via transport of sediments; and coastal engineering/management via transport and dispersion of anthropogenic materials such as effluent from sewage outfalls. The overall objectives of this study are to understand the dynamics governing the flux of momentum from shoaling nonlinear internal waves to mean currents; the scale and structure of mean flows driven by shoaling internal waves under idealized conditions; and the magnitude and spatial structure of the net mass transport associated with the shoaling internal waves. Despite the ubiquitous nature of nonlinear internal waves in the coastal ocean, very few three dimensional studies exist that include variability of the topography in the direction normal to propagation. This study represents the first attempt to quantify the transport pathways forced by internal waves and the mean flows generated by them and it is expected to produce results and methodologies with broad applicability in interdisciplinary oceanography and coastal management. The project will support the professional development of a postdoctoral researcher and a graduate student. The approach is based on a state of the art, three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic numerical model with adaptive mesh capabilities. In addition, data previously collected in Massachusetts Bay during previous studies will be analyzed. This is the first study to systematically address the mean flow and transport driven by nonlinear internal waves shoaling over bathymetry varying in two dimensions. The study comprises two components: a modeling component used to study the transfer of momentum and water mass transport in a variety of situations of increasing realism, and a data-analysis component which will consider the same problem using the extensive dataset available from a series of experiments conducted in Massachusetts Bay over the last 16 years. The modeling component will be used to aid in interpreting the data. The model (Stratified Ocean Model with Adaptive Refinement), developed in part with funding from previous National Science Foundation proposals, is a state-of-the-art three-dimensional non-hydrostatic stratified ocean model which employs adaptive mesh refinement to effectively use the computational resources, increasing resolution on demand where necessary.