CASPO

Talk Abstract:

Coastal upwelling rates are classically determined by the intensity of the upper-ocean offshore Ekman transport. But (sub-)mesoscale turbulence modulates offshore transport, hence the net upwelling rate. Eddy effects generally oppose the Ekman circulation, resulting in so-called “eddy cancellation”, a process well studied in the Southern Ocean. Here we investigate how air-sea heat/buoyancy fluxes modulate eddy cancellation in an idealized upwelling model. We run CROCO simulations with constant winds but varying heat fluxes with and without…

Talk Abstract:

Oceanic lee waves are generated when quasi-steady flows interact with rough topography at the bottom of the ocean. These internal waves provide an important sink of energy and momentum from the mean flow, especially in the Southern Ocean where they are a leading order mechanism for diapycnal mixing. Linear theory with a spectral representation of abyssal hill topography is generally used to estimate lee wave generation for use in parameterisations, and has been verified against idealised simulations. Here, we use a realistic wave resolving simulation of the Drake…

Talk Abstract:

Ocean turbulence transfers energy across scales, and is a key ingredient in shaping the ocean circulation. Conventional turbulence dynamics suggests that the kinetic energy in the ocean is transferred primarily to larger scales, via the inverse energy cascade that emerges under the influence of Earth's rotation. This raises the question of how dissipation is achieved in oceanic flows, which would necessarily require an energy transfer towards the small molecular scales. It has been argued that flows that…

Weekly CASPO Seminar: join us on Zoom every Wednesday at 3:30 pm to hear about the latest and greatest in Climate, Atmospheric Sciences, and Physical Oceanography! 

Professor Kimberly Strong, the current Chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, will give a talk titled The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory: Probing the atmosphere of the high Arctic at 80N.

The High Arctic is a bellwether for global climate change, a receptor for…

Weekly CASPO Seminar: join us on Zoom every Wednesday at 3:30 pm to hear about the latest and greatest in Climate, Atmospheric Sciences, and Physical Oceanography! 

Dr. Robert Todd, Scripps alumnus and current Associate Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will give a talk titled Gliders in the Gulf Stream: New insights from sustained observing.

The Gulf Stream is a key part of the Earth's climate system, carrying heat poleward as part of the Atlantic Meridional…