Project #1

Oceanic bottom boundary layers (BBL) have disproportionate roles in influencing large-scale circulation dynamics and energy budgets. They support strong boundary currents in basin scales, facilitate heat and nutrient exchange between coastal seas and open ocean, and introduce enhanced mixing in small scales which are of crucial importance to the closure of the global meridional overturning circulation. This project involves theoretical derivations and three-dimensional large-eddy simulations (LES) of the turbulent stratified oceanic BBL over sloping topography with the focus on its evolution and arrest.

Project #2

The tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is a unique location that has an outsized impact on both global climate and Southern Ocean ecology, a relationship that is intricately linked to the ocean dynamics and the circulation structure (e.g. frontal jets, interactions with bathymetry) of the region. In this project, in-situ observations are made using autonomous Seagliders and shipboard devices on the fine-scale hydrographic and hydrodynamic structures in southern Drake Passage, Southern Ocean. The goal is to identify the key flow-topography interaction processes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system that shape the upwelling pathways and facilitate water mass transformation. For more information, please visit the ChinStrAP website.

Project #3

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) system has been identified as the major site where the densest water mass on Earth - the Antarctic Bottom Water is transformed to lighter density classes. However, due to the complicated bathymetric structures, the density distribution and the associated abyssal flow field have not been understood conceptually yet. In this project, idealized MITgcm simulations are carried out to study (1) the density adjustment and restratification processes, shaped by the background turbulent mixing and topography; (2) the frictional and geostrophic flow fields in the deep canyons. The goal is to identify the coupling between the dynamics and thermodynamics in the MAR system and their roles in influencing the large-scale meridional overturning circulation.
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