Coastal Ocean Dynamics
Collaborators: James McWilliams (UCLA), Delphine Hypolite (UCLA), Yusuke Uchiyama (Kobe University), Jeroen Molemaker (UCLA),
Currents in coastal ocean result from interactions among winds, waves, tides, and the shape of the sea-floor and coastline. My research investigates the fluid dynamics of the coastal ocean, from the shoreline to the shelf-break, primarily by utilizing idealized and realistic computer simulations.
Specifically, I am interested in the variety of oceanic 'weather' patterns that uniquely co-exist in the nearshore: submesoscale fronts and filaments that form in the surface boundary layer; internal tidal bores that result from internal waves propagating up a sloping bottom; surf-zone vortices that arise with variable surface gravity wave forcing or bathymetry; headland wakes resulting from large-scale flows feeling topographic irregularities; and river plumes that eject seaward. The local flows associated with these coherent structures can dominate material transport on hour to daily time-scales. However, little is known of their combined influences on stratification and material fluxes. Present and future work investigates the combined interactions among surface gravity waves, submesoscale fronts and filaments, internal tidal bores, headland wakes, surf-zone vortices, and larger-scale currents on the shelf (NSF Award 2124174). Increased understanding of these interactions will allow us to better understand and predict the transport of nutrients, larvae, and pollution, all of which can modulate ecosystem functioning. Related Papers
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Below: Alongshore transport of Lagrangian particles (blue/green dots) in a realistically forced, submesoscale-resolving (dx=36 m) ROMS simulation of the Santa Barbara Channel. Surface velocity is indicated by the arrows and surface relative vorticity by the colors.
Below: Idealized, non-hydrostatic, ROMS simulation of shoaling internal waves in different stratification. The stratification controls the type of internal tidal bore: forward upwelling, backward downwelling, or a hybrid of up- and downwelling. Black contours indicate isopycnals and colors indicate vertical velocity. |