SWEL: Surface Wave effects on upwelling and Ecosystems Linkages

SWEL：表面波对上升流和生态系统联系的影响海洋温度上升和碳含量增加给海洋生物带来了许多挑战。例如，海水的酸性越来越强，含氧量越来越低，这影响了许多海洋生物。这些变化会损害鱼类，进而损害渔业，但更普遍地威胁到海洋生物多样性。此外，可能有毒的有害藻华正在更频繁地发生，对海洋生物和人类健康构成威胁。更好地理解这些变化所涉及的物理和化学过程是很重要的。该项目旨在通过使用先进的计算机模型和真实世界的数据来精确地做到这一点，同时培训年轻的海洋科学家。当代全球海洋生物地球化学模型在计算能力方面存在局限性，无法捕捉小尺度海洋现象，如小尺度洋流（100米至1公里）和表面波的影响。然而，新兴的研究表明，这些小规模的过程对海洋化学和生命有重大影响。值得注意的是，表面重力波的作用似乎改变了小尺度运动。包括波浪效应可以大大改善海洋化学的模拟，但是对这些精细尺度的海洋特征的直接测量是罕见的，而且很难获得。这些困难使得数值模型成为探索这些小尺度特征的不可缺少的工具。这个项目的重点是加利福尼亚电流系统，并将解决一些非常小的特征和波浪动力学。这些模拟的结果将为未来的测量和采样计划提供信息，有助于评估海浪对海洋化学循环的影响，并改进这些影响如何在更广泛的气候模型中表现出来。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。

SWEL: Surface Waves effects on upwelling and Ecosystem LinkagesRising temperatures and increased carbon in our oceans are creating many challenges for marine life. For example, seawater is becoming more acidic waters and lower in oxygen levels, affecting many sea creatures. These changes can harm fish, and thus the fishing industry, but threatens ocean biodiversity more generally. Additionally, harmful algal blooms, which can be toxic, are occurring more frequently, presenting risks to both sea life and human health. It is important to understand better the physical and chemical processes that are involved in these changes. This project aims to precisely do that by using advanced computer models and real-world data while training young ocean scientists.Contemporary global ocean biogeochemical models have limitations in computational power and are unable to capture small-scale ocean phenomena, such as small scales currents (of size 100m to 1km) and the influence of surface waves. Yet, emerging research indicates that these small-scale processes have a significant impact on ocean chemistry and life. Notably, the role of surface gravity waves appears to modify small-scale motions. Including wave effects could substantially improve simulations of the ocean's chemistry, but direct measurements of these fine-scale ocean characteristics are rare and difficult to obtain. The difficulty makes numerical models an indispensable tool for exploring these small scale features. This project focuses on the California Current System and will resolve some of the very small features and wave dynamics. The results from these simulations will inform future measurement and sampling plans, help to evaluate the impact of waves on marine chemical cycles, and refine how these effects can be represented in broader climate models.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.