RAPID: Sub-Mesoscale Dynamics of Buoyant Plumes

智力优势：这个快速反应研究项目解决了与2010年4月20日开始从1500米深的深度释放大量石油(每天超过5000桶)的大规模深水地平线漏油事件相关的几个重要科学问题。该项目的主要目标是通过大涡模拟探索从分层和旋转海洋环境底部的点源释放的浮力羽流的行为，作为未来解决石油和天然气羽流建模的一步。特别是，将讨论以下问题：(1)在亚中尺度(空间范围为100米至10公里，时间范围为几天至几周)海洋环境中，浮力羽流的流动模式是什么？它有没有显示地下侵入体从主烟柱中脱轨？浮力羽流如何与混合层密度锋面相互作用？控制羽流的参数是什么？S是否有能力到达地面？总流量中有多少是在地表表示的？(Ii)羽流的三维相对散布是多少。地面和地下的相对弥散有什么不同？(Iii)三维浮力羽流在其源关闭后的弥散性质是什么？它需要多久才能消散？它在哪里改变了周围的水特征？虽然这项研究将主要在Boussinesq牛顿流体模型的背景下进行，但将考虑两个简单的修改。第一个是加上蒸发量，代表浮面后头两天的体积损失，第二个是计入非布西内斯克效应，以计入油和水之间约20%的密度差异。计算将在阿贡国家实验室与Paul Fischer和Aleks Obabko合作使用光谱元素代码Nek5000进行。？S IBM BL/G Intreids机器在多达32,000个CPU上进行。更广泛的影响：该项目的更广泛的影响包括加强迈阿密大学、阿贡国家实验室和斯坦尼斯空间中心海军研究实验室的科学家之间正在进行的合作，以便在问题的不同方面取得进展，为未来的事件做好准备。这项研究的结果还可能导致更好的浮力羽流采样技术，并为如何初始化更大规模的海洋环流模式提供指导。这也是未来发展先进的溢油应用两相计算模型的良好步骤。

Intellectual Merit: This RAPID response research project addresses several important scientific issues associated with the massive ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill that started to release large amounts of oil (more than 5,000 barrels/day) from a depth of 1,500 m on April 20, 2010. The main objective of the project is to explore the behavior of buoyant plumes released from a point source at the bottom of a stratified and rotating oceanic environment through large eddy simulations, as a step towards resolved modeling of oil and gas plumes in the future. In particular, the following questions will be addressed:(i) What are the flow patterns of buoyant plumes in the presence of sub-mesoscale (spatial range of 100 m to 10 km, temporal range of few days to few weeks) oceanic environment? Does it show subsurface intrusions detraining from the main plume? How does the buoyant plume interact with mixed layer density fronts? What are the parameters controlling the plume?s ability to reach the surface? How much of the total discharge is expressed at the surface? (ii) What is the three-dimensional relative dispersion of the plume. How do surface and subsurface relative dispersion differ?(iii) What is the nature of dispersion of a three-dimensional buoyant plume after its source is shut down? How long does it take to dissipate? Where does it modify the surrounding water characteristics?While this study will be conducted mainly within the context of a Boussinesq, Newtonian fluid model, two simple modifications will be considered. The first is the addition of evaporation to represent loss of volume over the first two days after surfacing, and the second one is the inclusion of non-Boussinesq effects in order to include density differences between oil and water of some 20%. The computations will be carried out employing the spectral element code Nek5000 in collaboration with Paul Fischer and Aleks Obabko on Argonne National Laboratory.?s IBM BL/G Intrepid machine on up to 32,000 CPUs. Broader Impacts: Broader impacts of the project include a strengthening of the ongoing collaboration between scientists from the University of Miami, Argonne National Laboratory and the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center to make progress in different aspects of the problem in preparation for future events. The results from this study may also lead to better sampling techniques of buoyant plumes and provide guidance on how to initialize larger scale ocean circulation models. It is also a good step for future development of advanced two-phase computational models for oil spill applications.