Modelling Jets and Vortices in the Ocean

该研究计划的目标是开发和改进海洋系统的理想化模型，并确定在一些观测约束的射流和涡流系统中，海洋地球化学性质是如何传输的。 除潮汐外，喷流和涡旋是海洋中最具活力的特征，因此在海洋物理和生物特性的分布中起着至关重要的作用。使用最近开发的高性能计算软件，将数值求解模型方程，以解决广泛的长度和时间尺度。 这将有助于我们理解在中尺度或接近中尺度的能量转移的物理机制。更具体地说，这项研究计划将回答一组基本问题，包括：1）哪些属性是决定射流和涡流的稳定性至关重要？ 2)当不稳定性发展时，它们如何在非线性区域中发展，然后饱和以实现非线性平衡？ 3)作为不稳定过程的结果，能量如何在不同的长度和时间尺度之间级联？ 4)这些非线性过程对物理和地球化学性质的迁移以及生态系统的生命周期有什么影响？

The objective of this research program is to develop and improve idealized models of oceanic systems and determine how biogeochemical properties are transported in a number of observationally-constrained systems of jets and vortices.  Excluding tides, jets and vortices are the most energetic features in the ocean and therefore play a crucial role in the distribution of physical and biological oceanic properties. Using recently-developed high performance computing software, the model equations will be solved numerically to resolve a wide range of length and time scales.  This will help us to understand the physical mechanisms that govern the energy transfers at or near the mesoscale. More specifically, this research program will answer a set of fundamental questions including: 1) Which properties are crucial in determining the stability of jets and vortices?  2) When instabilities develop, how do they evolve in the nonlinear regime and then saturate to achieve nonlinear equilibration?  3) As a result of the instability processes, how is energy cascaded between the various length and time scales?  4) What effect do these nonlinear processes have on the transport of physical and biogeochemical properties and therefore on the lifecycle of ecosystems?