Turbulence in Antarctic Circumpolar Current standing meanders.

本文旨在研究湍流混合在南大洋经向翻转环流和南极绕极流(ACC)动力学中的作用。该项目的动机是最近发现的南大洋区域存在非常强烈和广泛的湍流，这一观察结果违背了目前基于海洋内部几乎没有混合的假设对环流的理论理解。该项目令人振奋，因为它将首次使用创新仪器测量南大洋深处的湍流混合，以确定其动力原因，并评估其对行政协调委员会翻转环流和输送的影响。该项目的重点将是观察和模拟Kerguelen高原以北的ACC站立曲流区的环流和混合情况，Kerguelen高原是当前系统的一个动态重要区域。这种看待ACC的新方式将提供重要的新见解，以了解洋流如何与海底地形相互作用(这是理解ACC输送的关键问题)、南大洋翻转环流的动力学性质以及海洋环流和气候模式中应如何表示这一点。

This proposal is to study the role of turbulent mixing in the meridional overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean and the dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The project is motivated by the recent discovery of Southern Ocean regions of remarkably intense and widespread turbulence, an observation that defies current theoretical understanding of the circulation based on the assumption of little mixing in the ocean interior. The project is exciting because it will use innovative instrumentation to measure turbulent mixing in the deep Southern Ocean for the first time, to determine its dynamical causes and to assess its impact on the overturning circulation and the transport of the ACC. The focus of the project will be on observing and modelling the circulation and mixing in a standing meander of the ACC north of the Kerguelen Plateau, a dynamically important region of the current system. This novel way of looking at the ACC will provide important new insight into how the current interacts with bottom topography (a crucial issue for understanding what sets the ACC transport), the dynamical nature of the overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean and how this should be represented in ocean circulation and climate models.