Measurements of Turbulence and Flow Structure in the Water Column of the Coastal Ocean using PIV

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

Measurements of Turbulence and flow Structure in the Water Column of the Coastal Ocean using PIV Thomas Osborn and Joseph Katz John Hopkins University A novel and unique measurement system will be deployed to obtain measurements of oceanic turbulence. A submersible PIV system will be used during 3 campaigns at SABSOON, a coastal observatory in the South Atlantic Bight, to measure turbulence and mean flow characteristics in the bottom 10 m of the water column and to compare these to stratification, wave climate, and circulation. Reynolds stresses, dissipation, production, transport, and buoyancy flux will be related to elevation, mean velocity distribution, shear, stratification, Richardson number, and wave phase. When and where a local balance between production, dissipation, and buoyancy flux holds will be explored. The correlation, or lack thereof, between turbulent and wave stresses will be investigated. The origin of gusts will be characterized. In the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) modeling, subgrid scale (SGS) turbulent stresses will be compared to typical parameterizations. Wave-turbulence separation will be performed using a version of the Trowbridge technique.