Transport and Modification of Near-Surface and Intermediate Waters by the Gulf Stream along the US East Coast

美国东海岸湾流对近地表和中层水域的输送和改变

• 批准号: 1923362
• 负责人: Robert Todd
• 金额: $ 29.69万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1923362&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Transport; Modification; Near; Surface; Intermediate

The Gulf Stream is a major part of the global climate system transporting warm waters from the tropics toward mid-latitudes. Despite decades of study, understanding of the quantity and types of water carried by the Gulf Stream as it flows along the US East Coast remains incomplete, in part due to historically sparse subsurface data. Recent observations from autonomous underwater gliders as well as long-term observations from other platforms such as buoys, will be used to examine Gulf Stream transport along the entire US East Coast. The research will examine how the Gulf Stream varies along its flow path, identify changes in its water characteristics, and evaluate future needs for observing this important ocean current. The results of the analysis should also be valuable for comparing with numerical models of the ocean circulation. This project will support a Ph.D. student who will be actively involved in all aspects of the project, including data processing, analysis, and publication of results. Results will be incorporated in educational efforts for the MIT-WHOI Joint Program and summer undergraduate programs such as the WHOI Summer Student Fellow program and the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program. The PI and student will continue to participate in media and public events that showcase the research.This work relies heavily on an unprecedented set of over 150 high-resolution glider-based transects across the Gulf Stream that have been collected over the past several years. Building on previous work with subsets of the glider observations, the analyses will make use of the full, multi-year set of observations, complemented by measurements from other platforms, to comprehensively examine spatial variability in the time-mean volume and temperature transport of the Gulf Stream along the US East Coast. No such examination of a western boundary current has previously been possible from observations, so these results will serve as key benchmarks. With over 20,000 hydrographic profiles from gliders alone, the available data set also offers a unique opportunity to examine the distribution and modification of subsurface water masses along the continental margin, which will lead to better understanding of the role of those water masses in the climate system. Products of the analyses, such as time-mean transports as a function of along-stream distance, can be used for the validation of numerical models and for guiding boundary current observational efforts globally. Analyses carried out as part of this project will guide the development of comprehensive and fit-for-purpose observing systems for the Gulf Stream and other western boundary currents and will be disseminated to the communities engaged in the planning and developing a global boundary current observing network.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

墨西哥湾流是全球气候系统的重要组成部分，将温暖的海水从热带地区输送到中纬度地区。尽管进行了数十年的研究，但对墨西哥湾流在美国东海岸流动时携带的水的数量和类型的了解仍然不完整，部分原因是历史上稀少的地下数据。自动水下滑翔机最近的观测以及浮标等其他平台的长期观测，将被用来研究整个美国东海岸的墨西哥流输送。这项研究将研究墨西哥湾流如何沿其流动路径变化，确定其水特征的变化，并评估未来对观测这一重要洋流的需求。分析的结果对于与海洋环流数值模式的比较也应该是有价值的。该项目将支持一名博士生，他将积极参与该项目的所有方面，包括数据处理、分析和结果发布。结果将被纳入麻省理工学院-世界卫生组织联合计划和夏季本科生计划的教育工作中，例如世界卫生组织暑期学生伙伴计划和伍兹霍尔伙伴教育计划。PI和学生将继续参与媒体和公共活动，展示这项研究。这项工作在很大程度上依赖于过去几年收集的一组史无前例的、超过150个基于滑翔机的墨西哥湾流高分辨率横断面。在以前滑翔机观测子集工作的基础上，分析将利用完整的多年观测集，并辅之以其他平台的测量，以全面检查美国东海岸墨西哥湾流时间平均流量和温度输送的空间变异性。此前，从观测中还没有可能对西部边界流进行这样的检查，因此这些结果将作为关键的基准。仅滑翔机就有20 000多条水文剖面，现有的数据集还提供了一个独特的机会来研究大陆边缘地下水团的分布和变化，这将有助于更好地了解这些水团在气候系统中的作用。这些分析的结果，例如作为沿河距离函数的时间平均输运，可用于验证数值模型和指导全球边界当前的观测工作。作为该项目的一部分，开展的分析将指导墨西哥湾流和其他西部边界流的综合和适合用途的观测系统的开发，并将分发给参与规划和开发全球边界流观测网的社区。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Along-Stream Evolution of Gulf Stream Volume Transport

• DOI: 10.1175/jpo-d-19-0303.1
• 发表时间: 2020-08-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Heiderich, Joleen;Todd, Robert E.
• 通讯作者: Todd, Robert E.

Gulf Stream Mean and Eddy Kinetic Energy: Three‐Dimensional Estimates From Underwater Glider Observations

墨西哥湾流平均动能和涡流动能：水下滑翔机观测的三维估计

• DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090281
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Geophysical Research Letters
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Todd, Robert E.