Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | Turbulent dynamics and tracer dispersion characteristics of submesoscale flows |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Principal Investigator : | Prof. Jim Thomas, TIFR - Centre for Applicable Mathematics, Karnataka |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2024 |
Contact info : | jimthomas@icts.res.in |
Equipments : | Computer and accessories |
Details
Executive Summary : | Oceanic fluid dynamics play a crucial role in atmospheric dynamics and climate, making it essential to understand their dynamics. The past decade has seen a surge in observations of energetic submesoscales of 1-10 kms across the world's oceans, supported by global scale ocean models. These submesoscales are not constrained by rotation-dominated quasi-gestrophic dynamics, and are expected to help dissipate balanced mesoscale energy. Oceanic observations also reveal stronger lateral stirring of tracers at submesoscales compared to mesoscale flows. However, the detailed physical processes at submesoscales responsible for enhanced flow energy dissipation and tracer stirring are not well understood. In situ observations are sparse in space, making it difficult to obtain fundamental flow descriptors like energy spectrum and spectral fluxes. Satellite altimeter measurements are constrained by temporal resolution and are confined to the upper ocean, providing little information on interior processes. Oceanographers often work with inbuilt parameterizations, which are sensitive to resolution, making it difficult to understand the fundamental dynamics of flows. Understanding the fundamental processes associated with submesoscales requires dedicated direct numerical integration of governing equations at high spatio-temporal resolutions. This research proposal aims to study the energetics and tracer stirring features of submesoscales in a broad parameter regime, benefiting the oceanographic community by indicating new dynamic variables to look for in oceanic observations and aiding in the development of improved small-scale parametrizations in oceanic general circulation models. |
Total Budget (INR): | 33,00,000 |
Organizations involved