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

沿海地区的非线性内波输运与生物海洋学有很强的跨学科联系，如通过浮游生物和营养物的输运；地质和地球化学海洋学，通过沉积物的输运；以及沿海工程/管理，通过输运和扩散人为物质，如排污口的污水。这项研究的总体目标是了解控制从浅化的非线性内波到平均流的动量通量的动力学；理想条件下由浅化的内波驱动的平均流的规模和结构；以及与浅化的内波有关的净质量输送的大小和空间结构。尽管沿海海洋中的非线性内波普遍存在，但很少有三维研究包括垂直于传播方向的地形的可变性。这项研究是对内波强迫的运输路径及其产生的平均流量进行量化的第一次尝试，预计它将产生在跨学科海洋学和沿海管理中具有广泛适用性的结果和方法。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。该方法基于最先进的三维非静力数值模式，具有自适应网格能力。此外，还将对之前研究期间在马萨诸塞湾收集的数据进行分析。这是第一次系统地研究由二维变化的水深测量中的非线性内波驱动的平均水流和输运。这项研究由两个部分组成：一个是建模部分，用于研究在各种日益逼真的情况下的动量转移和水质传输；另一个是数据分析部分，它将使用过去16年在马萨诸塞湾进行的一系列实验中获得的大量数据集来考虑同样的问题。建模组件将用于帮助解释数据。该模型(具有自适应加密的分层海洋模型)部分是由以前的国家科学基金会提案提供的资金开发的，是一种最先进的三维非静力分层海洋模型，它采用自适应网格加密来有效地利用计算资源，在必要时根据需要提高分辨率。

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.