Forced Transients in Water Mass Transformation and the Meridional Overturning Circulation

将把理想化的涡流解析数值海洋模型与分析理论结合起来，以更好地了解低频海洋温盐环流如何对大气强迫的变化作出反应。据推测，在温盐环流异常的产生和影响控制的信息传播沿着和跨地转等值线，和涡流通量的热量和盐的开放和封闭的等值线之间的通信中发挥了核心作用。一般的方法是使用该理论来定义相关的无量纲数，并提供一个动力学框架来指导和解释数值模式计算。数值模式将用于检验理论的基本预测，并将高纬度对流区域纳入大规模海洋环流。感兴趣的领域包括对流水团的性质，纬向（极向）热传输，纬向翻转环流和海洋环流anomals.Intellectual MeritThe分析模式和涡分辨数值模式的组合将提供一个有用的补充，更传统的大尺度气候模式和非常理想化的箱模型，不解决基本的物理过程。信息沿沿着和穿过地转等值线传播的理论基础将提供对主要物理过程的动力学理解，以及对信息传播和流态之间转换的相关时间尺度的明确理论估计。温盐环流的频率变化是气候科学的一个核心问题，对一系列学科有直接影响，包括：大气科学、地球化学、生态系统和碳吸收。该项目的研究成果将有助于伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的本科和研究生教育计划。本科生将被招募通过暑期学生奖学金计划的分析模型方面的工作，而首席研究员将从这个程序的结果纳入研究生水平的课程和讲座在地球物理流体动力学暑期学校。这项工作的结果也将通过同行审查的文献、国家和国际会议以及主要研究者的网页广泛提供。

Idealized eddy resolving numerical ocean models will be combined with analytic theory to better understand how the low-frequency ocean thermohaline circulation responds to changes in atmospheric forcing. It is hypothesized that the generation and influences of anomalies in the thermohaline circulation are controlled by the propagation of information along and across geostrophic contours, and that eddy fluxes of heat and salt play a central role in the communication between regions of open and closed contours. The general approach is to use the theory to define the relevant non-dimensional numbers and provide a dynamical framework with which to guide and interpret the numerical model calculations. The numerical model will be used to test the basic predictions from the theory and to incorporate the high latitude convection regions into the large-scale ocean circulation. Quantities of interest include the properties of convective water masses, the meridional (poleward) heat transport, the meridional overturning circulation and ocean circulation anomalies.Intellectual MeritThe combination of analytic models and eddy resolving numerical models will provide a useful complement to more traditional large-scale climate models and very idealized box models that do not resolve essential physical processes. The theoretical underpinning of information propagation along and across geostrophic contours will provide both dynamical understanding of the dominant physical processes and an explicit theoretical estimate of the relevant time scales for the propagation of information and the transition between flow regimes.Broader ImpactsUnderstanding the low-frequency variability of the thermohaline circulation is a central problem in climate science that has direct influence over a wide range of disciplines, including: atmospheric science, biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and carbon uptake. The research results from this project will contribute to both undergraduate and graduate education programs at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Undergraduate students will be recruited to work on aspects of the analytic model through the Summer Student Fellowship Program, while the Principal Investigator will incorporate results from this program into graduate level classes and lectures at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Summer School. Results from this work will also be made broadly available through the peer reviewed literature, national and international meetings and the Principal Investigator's web page.