Collaborative Research: A Model-Based Synthesis of Mid Atlantic Bight Pioneer Array Data to Infer Across-shelf Fluxes, Frontal Variability, and Characteristics of the Array

为支持国家科学基金会海洋观测站倡议，拟议研究的目标是提供大西洋中部海湾先锋阵列收集的所有现有和未来观测的综合资料。将使用观测影响和观测灵敏度计算来评估观测阵列。到目前为止，这在很大程度上一直是数值天气预报的领域。拟议的研究将为中大西洋海湾提供一系列高质量的环流分析，从而为不稳定、涡通量和地表强迫在促进跨陆架交换和塑造该区域环流方面的相对作用提供新的线索。由此产生的发行量分析将在罗格斯大学的网络服务器上提供，这将是一项宝贵的社区资源。该项目的模型配置将用于为国际暑期学校安排讲座，为高级研究生和职业生涯早期科学家讲授应用沿海海洋建模和数据同化方面的先进方法。该项目的具体目标是：(1)利用最先进的海洋模式和数据同化系统，对先锋阵列所跨领域的海洋环流进行追溯性和近乎实时的分析；(2)探索大陆架交换过程的动态；(3)使用大陆架循环的动态指标评价先锋阵列的设计。先锋阵列观测将使用区域海洋模式系统和4维变分数据同化系统的多尺度配置进行综合。由于直接受到观测的约束，由此得到的三维时间演变环流估计将比模式或单独考虑的观测更可靠。环流估计数预计将跨越2015-2018年期间，并将提供一个宝贵的、无缝的多年期和多尺度海洋数据集，用于探讨该区域陆架断裂过程的动态，包括与层化有关的跨陆架通量的季节变化、涡流通量、边界层的形成以及跨陆架断裂时发生的阶段性交换事件。先锋阵列的系泊和移动部件解决具体科学问题的能力将使用一套复杂的分析工具进行评估，这些分析工具量化了个别观测和资产对针对上述物理过程的特定流通指标的影响。所使用的免费工具套件将包括观测影响和观测灵敏度计算、阵列模式识别和观测系统模拟实验

In support of the National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative, the objective of the proposed research is to provide a synthesis of all existing and future observations collected by the Pioneer Array in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Observation impact and observation sensitivity calculations will be used to evaluate the observing array. Until now, this has been largely the domain of numerical weather prediction. The proposed research will yield a sequence of high quality circulation analyses for the Mid-Atlantic Bight that will shed new light on the relative role of instability, eddy fluxes and surface forcing in promoting cross-shelf exchange and in shaping the circulation of the region. The resulting circulation analyses will be made available on a web server at Rutgers University and will represent a valuable community resource. Model configurations from this project will be used to frame lectures for international summer schools addressing advanced methods in applied coastal ocean modeling and data assimilation to senior graduate students and early career scientists. The project will also train a graduate student.The specific goals of the project are to: (i) compute retroactive and near real-time analyses of the ocean circulation in the domain spanned by the Pioneer Array using a state-of-the-art ocean model and data assimilation system; (ii) explore the dynamics of shelf exchange processes; and (iii) evaluate the Pioneer Array design using dynamically motivated metrics of the shelf circulation. The Pioneer Array observations will be synthesized using a multi-scale configuration of the Regional Ocean Modeling System and a 4-dimensional variational data assimilation system. Being directly constrained by the observations, the resulting 3-dimensional time-evolving circulation estimates will be more reliable than either the model or the observations considered in isolation. The circulation estimates are expected to span the period 2015-2018 and will provide a valuable and seamless multi-year and multi-scale ocean data set that will be used to explore the dynamics of shelf-break processes in the region including seasonal variability in cross-shelf fluxes associated with stratification, eddy fluxes, the formation of boundary layers, and the occurrence of episodic exchange events across the shelf-break. The ability of the moored and mobile components of the Pioneer Array to address specific science questions will be evaluated using a suite of sophisticated analysis tools that quantify the impact of individual observations and assets on specific circulation metrics that target the aforementioned physical processes. The complimentary suite of tools used will include observation impact and observation sensitivity calculations, identification of the array modes, and observing system simulation experiments