The Influence of Rotation on Mixing at Straits and Sills

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Legg Proposal Number: 9985840 Diapycnal mixing at straits and sills is observed to vary significantly from one location to another. Understanding the cause of this variation is important to climate modeling. The PI hypothesizes that planetary rotation is responsible for the observed variability. Funds are provided to characterize the structures and quantify the rates responsible for mixing in rotating, hydraulically controlled flows using large eddy simulation modeling. In particular, the dependence of these characteristics on the ratio of the channel width to internal Rossby radius of deformation will be determined.