Turbulent oceans and atmospheres of the rotating planets

你有没有想过为什么气候是极其难以预测的？其中一个主要原因是气候系统的组成部分，如地球的海洋和大气，是非线性的，本质上是混乱的。我的研究计划的总体目标是更好地理解控制构成海洋和大气的分层和旋转流体的非线性行为的动力学过程。同样的过程也适用于其他行星的大气层，包括气态巨行星木星和土星。该研究将提高我们预测这些复杂非线性流体动力系统的动力学和演化的能力。海洋和大气具有一般的大尺度环流，但却具有丰富的小尺度流场和密度场。水流湍急，含有大量的漩涡。漩涡与行星尺度（罗斯比）波相互作用，这是由于行星的旋转和曲率。这些运动影响海洋中生物的生产、混合和动量的耗散，但其动力学的细节，包括其来源和生命周期，尚未完全了解。这个研究项目的重点是射流、涡流和罗斯比波的产生。我们的方法结合了理论、数值模拟和实验室实验。我们使用我们开发的一种新的实验室技术来远程测量旋转流体中的压力、速度和涡度。我们称这种技术为“测高成像测速”，它与20世纪90年代初发射的第一颗卫星测高仪彻底改变了物理海洋学的卫星测高没有什么不同。实验室测高提供了高分辨率的速度场，使实验室实验在详细的流渲染中等于或超过当前的3D数值模型。使用这种方法的研究结果将对参与解决“自发不平衡”或“地球物理流体动力学中的射流和环状结构”的社区非常感兴趣，他们正在努力将非地转动力学纳入传统上被视为准地转理想化的海洋和大气。这项技术，我们已经开发并将继续探索和应用，使加拿大的前沿研究成为可能。这项研究将对紊流海洋和大气的非线性动力学产生新的认识和结果。

Have you ever wondered why climate is extremely difficult to predict? One of the major reasons is that the components of the climate system such as the Earth's oceans and atmosphere are nonlinear and inherently chaotic. The overall goal of my research program is to better understand the dynamical processes that govern the nonlinear behavior of the stratified and rotating fluids that comprise the oceans and atmosphere. The same processes are often relevant for atmospheres of other planets including gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. This study will enhance our capability to predict the dynamics and evolution of these complex nonlinear fluid dynamical systems. The oceans and atmosphere have a general large-scale circulation, and yet are rich with flow fields and density fields of much smaller scale. The flows are turbulent and contain eddies in abundance. The eddies interact with planetary-scale (Rosby) waves which are due to rotation and curvature of the planet. These motions influence biological production, mixing, and dissipation of momentum in the ocean but the details of their dynamics including their sources and life-cycle are yet to be fully understood. This research program focuses on the production of jet-like currents, eddies and Rossby waves. Our approach combines theory, numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. We use a new laboratory technique that we developed to remotely measure pressure, velocity and vorticity in a rotating fluid. We call this technique 'Altimetric Imaging Velocimetry' and it is not unlike satellite altimetry which revolutionized physical oceanography with the launch of the first satellite altimeters in the early 1990s. Laboratory altimetry provides high resolution velocity field such that laboratory experiments equal or exceed current 3D numerical models in detailed rendering of the flow. The results of the research using this method will be of great interest for communities involved in addressing 'spontaneous imbalance' or 'jets and annular structures in geophysical fluid dynamics' who are working to include non-geostrophic dynamics in what traditionally have been quasi-geostrophic idealizations of ocean and atmosphere. This technique, that we have developed and are continuing to explore and apply, enables cutting edge research here in Canada. This research will yield new results on and understanding of nonlinear dynamics of turbulent oceans and atmosphere.