Bulletin of the American Physical Society
77th Annual Meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics
Sunday–Tuesday, November 24–26, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah
Session X28: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics: Ocean II
8:00 AM–10:36 AM,
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Room: 251 F
Chair: Varvara Zemskova, University of Waterloo
Abstract: X28.00001 : Insights into the dynamics of gyre circulation and zonal currents of the Southern Ocean through direct numerical simulations*
8:00 AM–8:13 AM
Presenter:
Bajrang Chidhambaranathan
(University of Melbourne)
Authors:
Bajrang Chidhambaranathan
(University of Melbourne)
Bishakhdatta Gayen
(University of Melbourne)
Catherine A Vreugdenhil
(University of Melbourne)
The Southern Ocean serves as a crossroads, linking the multiple ocean basins and aiding in the global ocean transport of heat, nutrients and CO2. Encompassing large-scale features like the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Slope Current and Subpolar Gyres, as well as smaller-scale features like convection, its circulation network is pivotal in driving the Meridional Overturning Circulation through the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. Traditionally, studies understanding the ocean’s physical processes rely on regional and global climate and ocean models, which, despite having the benefits of realistic forcings, are constrained by their limitations in resolving convection and turbulence scales. Thus, we turn to high-fidelity direct numerical simulations of a semi-idealized domain of the Southern Ocean, forced only by rotation and sea surface density forcing. By resolving all scales of motion and upscaling the solutions to planetary processes through the dynamic similarity principle, all the key regional oceanographic features were reproduced. The results emphasize that, despite the simplicity of the setup, the ability to resolve convection can initiate a cascade of physical processes that form the core of Southern Ocean dynamics, even without the inclusion of complex bathymetry or wind forcing.
*Â Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science supported the research presented here.
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700