PO12D:
Oceanic Energy Pathways: From the Global Circulation to the Submesoscale II


Session ID#: 11458

Session Description:
Ocean circulation involves strong nonlinear coupling between processes and structures over a wide range of scales. This session focuses on dynamics related to scale interactions, ranging from global down to the sub-mesoscale. Such interactions play a primary role in determining budgets of momentum, heat, carbon, and other biogeochemical tracers in the ocean, which regulate Earth’s climate.  A promising approach to better understand dynamics at various scales, as well as their interactions, is to consider their energetics. Yet, significant uncertainties remain in our understanding of the oceanic energy pathways, from the global circulation to loss of balance at the sub-mesoscale. Understanding energy transfer across scales is fundamental not only for developing a more complete description of ocean dynamics, but also for the formulation of parameterizations in ocean climate models. In this session we invite discussions of theoretical, observational and modeling studies addressing the above issues pertaining to energy transfer across scales. Specific processes of interest include, but are not limited to, mesoscale and sub-mesoscale instabilities, eddy-mean flow interaction, interactions of the mesoscale with topography, and the transfer of energy between the balanced flow and internal waves.
Primary Chair:  Matthew W Hecht, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
Chairs:  Hussein Aluie, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States, Juan A Saenz, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States and Malte Jansen, University of Chicago, Geophysical Sciences, Chicago, IL, United States
Moderators:  Malte Jansen, University of Chicago, Geophysical Sciences, Chicago, IL, United States and Juan A Saenz, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Hussein Aluie, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States
Index Terms:

4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4528 Fronts and jets [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4532 General circulation [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • TP - Turbulent Processes

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

PO12D-01
Rapid Energy Exchange Between Balanced Eddies and Near-Inertial Waves at Fronts. (92146)
Leif N Thomas, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
PO12D-02
The Energetics of Centrifugal Instability (87646)
William K Dewar, Florida State Univ, Tallahassee, FL, United States
PO12D-03
Topographically Induced Mixing: Remote versus Local  (90500)
Andrew M. Hogg1, Yvan Dossmann2, Ross W Griffiths1, Madelaine Rosevear3, Graham Owen Hughes1 and Michael Copeland3, (1)Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia, (2)Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratoire de Physique, Lyon, France, (3)Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
PO12D-04
A Novel Approach to Unravelling Energy Pathways in the Ocean (87364)
Hussein Aluie, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States, Matthew W Hecht, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States and Geoffrey K Vallis, Princeton Univ, Princeton, NJ, United States; University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
PO12D-05
Role of Gravity Waves in the Dissipation of Mesoscale Eddies (88610)
Manita Chouksey, University of Hamburg, Institute of Oceanography, Theoretical Oceanography, Hamburg, Germany, Nils Brueggemann, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands and Carsten Eden, University of Hamburg, Institute of Oceanography, Hamburg, Germany
PO12D-06
Energetics of Eddy-Mean Flow Interactions in the Gulf Stream Region (88980)
Dujuan Kang and Enrique N Curchitser, Rutgers University, Department of Environmental Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
PO12D-07
Mesoscale Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling Enhances the Transfer of Wind Energy into the Ocean. (90887)
David Byrne, ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental, Zurich, Switzerland, Matthias Munnich, ETH Zentrum, Zurich, Switzerland, Ivy Frenger, Princeton University, Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton, NJ, United States and Nicolas Gruber, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
PO12D-08
Thermodynamic neutral density: A new physically-based, energy-constrained, materially conserved neutral density variable for quantifying mixing and tracking water masses in the ocean (91013)
Remi Tailleux, University of Reading, Reading, RG6, United Kingdom
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation