PO12A:
Multiscale Topographic Effects on Large-Scale Flow: From Wakes and Lee Waves to Small-Scale Turbulence and Mixing I


Session ID#: 37425

Session Description:
There has been a resurgence in research on stratified flow over topography in the ocean, with recent evidence suggesting its importance on the large-scale ocean circulation through topographic form drag, turbulence and mixing. The interaction of large-scale, low-frequency geostrophic currents with steep topography produces a rich submesoscale and mesoscale vorticity field that initiates a cascade of energy down to small scales and turbulence. Over more gentle topography, lee waves arise and may break nearby or propagate and eventually break elsewhere, leading to local and remote turbulence and mixing. Together, wakes and lee waves significantly impact the topographic form drag and play an important role in energy and momentum budgets of the low-frequency flow. Despite extensive research on stratified flow over topography, our ability to predict and parameterize oceanic flow at spatial scales comparable to the topography is lacking. This session solicits abstracts employing modeling, observations, or theory to link basin-scale flows to topographic lee waves/wake effects, thereby advancing the state of knowledge of (a) the science of flow at topography, boundary layers, and downscaling and (b) models and forecasts of the relevant processes.
Primary Chair:  Oliver B Fringer, Stanford University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford, CA, United States
Co-chairs:  Ganesh Gopalakrishnan1, Ruth C Musgrave2 and Gunnar Voet1, (1)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States(2)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cambridge, MA, United States
Moderators:  Oliver B Fringer1, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan2, Ruth C Musgrave3 and Gunnar Voet2, (1)Stanford University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford, CA, United States(2)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States(3)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Ruth C Musgrave, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Index Terms:

4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4544 Internal and inertial waves [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4562 Topographic/bathymetric interactions [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • OM - Ocean Modeling
  • PS - Physical Oceanography: Mesoscale and Smaller

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

No submissions have been made yet.

See more of: Physical Oceanography: Other