Nearshore plume dynamics: Airborne observations and modeling of surf-shelf exchange

这个项目通过研究沿海地带的冷暖海水对激流的可能修改，促进了对近岸环境的了解。该项目将研究由不同类型的风和海浪造成的此类修改。研究将仔细研究现有的数据和数学模型的结果。分析将把激流行为放在一个框架中，该框架考虑了改变电流的不同力。这项研究将为冲浪者和游泳者提供有用的信息，并为海岸区管理人员提供有用的信息，以确定污染物在海滩地区从海浪背后到海岸线的去向。总体而言，这项研究将通过改善海滩地带的安全而造福社会。它将支持一名职业生涯早期的科学家和一名博士后学者。该项目将研究与激流和相应的水流有关的近岸浮力羽流。这项研究将探索浮水和激流之间的联系，以及这种联系如何随着不同的层结条件和作用力(风、浪和密度梯度)而改变。研究将把红外、航空和现场观测(手头)与理想化的COAWST数值模拟结合起来。这项研究将试图确定羽流浮力对比在a)驱动激流和b)建立跨陆架质量交换方面的相对影响。通过确定这种相对影响，这项研究将扩大有关水深相关的激流的知识。这项工作试图将数值结果放在一个动力学框架中，该框架考虑了弗劳德和辛普森无维数的参数空间。作为更广泛的影响，这项研究将解决浮力效应对激流的影响，这一点以前被忽视了。此外，作为更广泛的影响，这项研究将包括培训一名博士后学者和一名本科生，并支持一名职业生涯早期的科学家。这一奖项反映了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 advance understanding of the nearshore environment by examining possible modifications to rip currents by warm and cold waters along a coastal strip. The project will examine such modifications also caused by different types of winds and waves. Research will scrutinize data already available and results from a mathematical model. Analysis will place rip-current behavior in a framework that considers different forces that modify the currents. The study will provide helpful information for surfers and swimmers, and for coastal zone managers to determine the fate of pollutants in the beach zone, from behind the breaking waves to the coastline. In general, the study will benefit society by improving safety in the beach zone. It will support one early-career scientist and a post-doctoral scholar. This project will study nearshore buoyant plumes related to rip currents and the corresponding flows. The study will explore the connection between buoyant waters and rip currents, and how the connection may change with different stratification conditions and forcing agents: wind, waves, and density gradients. Research will combine infrared airborne and in-situ observations (in hand) with idealized COAWST numerical modeling. The study will seek to determine the relative influence of plume buoyancy contrasts in a) driving rip currents and b) establishing cross-shelf exchange of mass. By determining such relative influence, the study will expand knowledge on bathymetrically related rip currents. This work seeks to place numerical results in a dynamical framework that considers the parameter space of Froude and Simpson non-dimensional numbers. As Broader Impacts, the study will address the influence of buoyancy effects on rip currents, which has been neglected before. Also as Broader Impacts, the study will include training of one post-doctoral scholar and one undergraduate student, and support for an early-career scientist.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.