CAREER: Scalar Transport at the Sediment Water Interface in Coastal Benthic Boundary Layers: Advancing Nearshore Processes Research and Education in Puerto Rico

该项目为推进波多黎各岛上的近岸进程、研究和教育提供了一种综合办法。它侧重于增进我们对海床和上覆水在波浪作用下的水和其他组分交换过程的理解。利用基于激光的非侵入性技术，将在平坦、波纹和过渡波纹床层上进行系统的实验，以前所未有的分辨率获得浓度和速度场的详细观测。与一个数值建模小组的新合作将为实验提供信息，为交叉验证提供有价值的数据，并将研究扩展到更复杂的物理领域。这项研究将提供描述沿海底栖边界层生态、生物地球化学和微生物过程的参数，并将促进妇女和少数群体在海洋科学和工程领域的发展。通过各种努力，该研究方案被整合到一个健全的教育计划中，包括创建一门新课程，并利用前所未有的流动可视化和量化技术增强现有课程；开发关于海滩演变和污染的互动模块；以及启动研究生奖学金研讨会系列，在奖学金申请过程中指导学生。该项目将为促进波多黎各的下一代海洋科学家和工程师提供必要的资源，并为妇女和少数民族提供宝贵的榜样。它建立在以前的发现的基础上，证明了波纹波长上的动量通量具有很高的可变性，并探索了溶质优先组织对整体质量交换的影响。通过结合详细的实验室实验(使用PIV和PLIF)、稳健的基于物理的数据简化技术和新的数值模拟协作，该项目将提供由非定常流体动力强迫、床面诱导的相干运动和不均匀质量源组合而产生的复杂波纹内混合结构的基本知识。基于PI在流动波纹河床上湍流振荡流动方面的专业知识，这项研究有可能深刻影响当前确定性模型对包括污染物、营养物质和生物地球化学过程在内的沿海海底边界层中的质量传输进行参数化的方式。拟议的研究计划将通过开发新的和增强的课程、外展活动和奖学金写作工作坊整合到一个强大的教育计划中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project provides an integrated approach to advance nearshore processes research and education on the island of Puerto Rico. It focuses on advancing our understanding of exchange processes of water and other constituents between the seabed and the overlying water under the action of waves. A systematic progression of experiments on flat, rippled and transitioning rippled bed regimes will be carried out using non-invasive laser-based techniques to obtain detailed observations of concentration and velocity fields with unprecedented resolution. A new collaboration with a numerical modeling group will inform the experiments, provide valuable data for cross-validation, and extend the research into more complex physics. The research will provide parameterizations describing ecological, biogeochemical and microbiological processes in the coastal benthic boundary layer and it will advance women and minorities in the fields of ocean sciences and engineering. The research program is integrated into a robust education plan through a variety of efforts, including the creation of a new course and enhancement of existing courses with unprecedented flow visualization and quantification techniques; the development of interactive modules on beach evolution and contamination; and the inception of a Graduate Fellowship Workshop series to coach students during the fellowship application process. This project will provide essential resources to advance the next generation of ocean scientists and engineers in Puerto Rico, and provide valuable role models for women and minorities.This project examines the combined effect of complex roughness scales and spatially varying mass sources on scalar transport across the sediment-water interface under oscillating wave motion. It builds upon previous findings that demonstrate a high variability of momentum fluxes across the ripple wavelengths, and explores the effect of preferential organization of solutes on the overall mass exchange. Through a combination of detailed laboratory experiments (using PIV and PLIF), robust physics-based techniques for data reduction, and a new numerical modeling collaboration, this project will provide fundamental knowledge on the complex intra-ripple mixing structure resulting from a combination of unsteady hydrodynamic forcing, bedform-induced coherent motions, and nonuniform mass sources. Grounded on the PI's expertise in turbulent oscillatory flow over mobile rippled beds, this study has the potential to profoundly impact the way current deterministic models parameterize mass transport in coastal benthic boundary layers including contaminants, nutrients, and biogeochemical processes. The proposed research program will be integrated into a strong educational plan through the development of new and enhanced courses, outreach activities, and fellowship writing workshops.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.