International Research Fellow Awards Program: Three-Dimensional Variability of Tidal Currents in the Ross Sea and it's Effect on Mixing

Robertson, Robin, Palisades NY

Investigators

Abstract

0000394 Robertson The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twentyfour months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twelve-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Robin Robertson to work with Drs. Hartmut H. Hellmer and Aike Beckmann at the Alfred-Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. The goal of this research is the investigation of the role tides play in mixing and Antarctic Bottom Water formation in the Ross Sea. The tidal velocity structure for the Ross Sea, including under the ice shelf, will be simulated utilizing realistic bathymetry and hydrography. A parallelized version of a sigma coordinate model will be used for the simulation. The four largest tidal constituents (two semidiurnal and two diurnal) will be simulated both individually and in combination. The expected results will include estimates of the three-dimensional tidal velocity fields. A crude parameterization of the mixing due to tides will also be developed for use in larger scale circulation models. The effects using multiple tidal constituents and of different hydrographic scenarios on the velocity fields and mixing will be investigated. The Alfred-Wegener Institute is ideally situated to develop collaborations with other European institutions involved in Antarctic research, such as the British Antarctic Survey, an Italian group in Venice, and a Norwegian group in Bergen, adding to the value of this international collaboration with Germany. ***