Exploring extreme vertical currents in the Western Mediterranean Sea

该项目的目标是探索连接海洋表面和海底与内部的运动，即所谓的“亚中尺度洋流”，它影响海洋生物地球化学特性的可变性。这些运动在水平方向上跨越几百到几千米，在垂直方向上跨越几十到几百米，在几个小时到几天的时间内变化。在这个项目中调查的方面是运动的空间结构，它们的动力学，以及它们的相关垂直速度如何连接海洋内部的表层和底层。此次勘探将结合多个计算机模拟，集中在地中海盆地最西端的Alboran海进行。这项研究将扩展研究人员对该地区亚中尺度运动的研究结果。这些结果表明，垂直输送发生在地表锋面附近（不同性质的水团之间的边界）和靠近地形障碍物的底部。这个项目打算通过仔细研究亚中尺度运动的演变来扩展先前的结果。这项研究是基于这样一个假设，即基于先前的结果，研究区域的最大垂直速度与地表锋面和水流与底部地形的相互作用有关。这项研究的结果将有助于更好地理解海洋中物质的垂直输送。该项目将为西班牙博士生提供访问加州大学洛杉矶分校的机会，并获得计算流体动力学，数据分析和科学交流方面的经验。它还将涉及高中学生外展活动。这个项目的目标是探索亚中尺度洋流在促进连接表层和底层与海洋内部的垂直洋流中的作用。这项研究将以地中海西部盆地的阿尔博兰海的数值模拟为基础。这项工作建立在pi最近的一项现实的高分辨率数值模型研究的基础上，该模型分析了该地区的亚中尺度流动。这些结果表明，快速和深度的垂直位移与地表锋面和海流与测深的相互作用有关。pi将结合理想化的过程研究模拟和拉格朗日方法，在增加时间和空间分辨率的情况下，通过一系列现实的、嵌套模型实验进行广泛的数值模拟。这种实际过程策略的结合将描述亚中尺度洋流的自发出现和随后的演变。该项目将促进对触发海洋垂直洋流的机制的理解，这具有相关的物理和生物地球化学意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to explore motions that connect the surface and the bottom of the ocean with the interior, the so-called ‘submesoscale currents’, which influence the variability of biogeochemical properties in the ocean. These motions span between hundreds and thousands of meters in the horizontal, between tens and hundreds of meters in the vertical, and they vary over several hours to days. Aspects investigated in this project are the spatial structure of the motions, their dynamics, and how their associated vertical velocities connect the surface and bottom layers with the ocean’s interior. The exploration will be done combining multiple computer simulations focused in the Alboran Sea, the westernmost region of the Mediterranean basin. The study will extend the investigators’ own results that scrutinized submesoscale motions in this region. Those results illustrated that vertical transports occur near surface fronts (the boundary between water masses of different properties) and at the bottom near topographic obstacles. This project intends to expand on the previous results by scrutinizing the evolution of submesoscale motions. The study is based on the hypothesis, based on previous results, that the largest vertical velocities in the study area are associated to surface fronts and to interactions of the currents with bottom topography. Results from this study should contribute to better understanding of the vertical transport of materials in the ocean. The project will provide opportunities for Spanish PhD students to visit UCLA and acquire experiences in computational fluid dynamics, data analysis, and scientific communication. It will also involve high-school student outreach activities.The goal of this project is to explore the role of submesoscale currents in promoting vertical currents that connect the surface and bottom layers with the ocean interior. The study will be based on numerical simulations of the Alboran Sea, in the western Mediterranean basin. The work builds on a recent, realistic, high-resolution numerical model study by the PIs that analyzes submesoscale flows in this region. Those results illustrate that rapid and deep vertical displacements are associated with surface fronts and with interactions of the currents with bathymetry. The PIs will conduct extensive numerical simulations with a series of realistic, nested-model experiments at increasing time and spatial resolutions, in combination with idealized process-study simulations and Lagrangian approaches. This combination of realistic-process strategy will describe the spontaneous emergence and subsequent evolution of submesoscale currents. The project will advance understanding of the mechanisms that trigger vertical currents in the ocean, which have relevant physical and biogeochemical implications.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.