Recent studies have found that equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variability may be influencing tropical Indian Ocean climate (Kucharski 2009, Wang 2009). Due to the economic and social impact of tropical cyclones, it is important to investigate how an Atlantic-Indian Ocean connection may be affecting tropical cyclone behavior in the southern Indian Ocean. In this study, the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrAC) tropical cyclone database is used to derive metrics of tropical cyclone behavior, which are then compared with indices of tropical Atlantic SST variability representing Atlantic Niño, and Benguela Niño events. Changes in tropical Atlantic SSTs are found to coincide with significant differences in tropical cyclone activity for portions of the southern Indian Ocean. In addition, for these same regions, tropical Atlantic SST variability is associated with changes in large-scale atmospheric conditions, including steering flow, low level vorticity, and humidity, typically associated with tropical cyclogenesis, and tropical cyclone track. The changes in steering flow related to both indices of Atlantic SST anomaly are reproduced by an atmospheric model. The changes in steering flow are also found to be linked to changes in TC translational velocity, and TC tracking. These findings indicate a possible link between tropical Atlantic conditions and cyclone activity in the Indian Ocean mediated through a teleconnection between tropical Atlantic SSTs and large scale atmospheric conditions over the southern Indian Ocean. The teleconnection related to the Benguela Niño region of SST variability was found to consist of a Rossby wave initiated off the coast of South America, and propagating into the Indian Ocean, thereby influencing several atmospheric variables, including steering flow. The teleconnection related to the Atlantic Niño region of SST variability was not well defined, although there was some evidence of a Walker circulation anomaly extending from the equatorial Atlantic over the continent of Africa, and influencing SIO steering flow. / Graduation date: 2012

<p>Large-scale coherent structures are systematically investigated in terms of their geometric attributes, importance toward describing turbulent exchange of energy, momentum and mass as well as their relationship to landscape features in the context of land-atmosphere interaction. In the first chapter, we present the motivation of this work as well as a background review of large-scale coherent structures in land-atmosphere interaction. In the second chapter, the methodology of large-eddy simulation (LES) and the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is introduced. LES was used to serve as a virtual laboratory to simulate typical scenarios in land-atmosphere interaction and the POD was used as the major technique to educe the coherent structures from turbulent flows in land-atmosphere interaction. In the third chapter, we justify the use of the LES to simulate the realistic coherent structures in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) by comparing results obtained from LES of the ABL and direct numerical simulation (DNS) of channel flow. In the fourth chapter, we investigate the effects of a wide range of vegetation density on the coherent structures within the air space within and just above the canopy (the so-called canopy sublayer, CSL). The fifth chapter presents an analysis of the coherent structures across a periodic forest-clearing-forest transition in the steamwise direction. The sixth chapter focuses on the role of coherent structures in explaining scalar dissimilarity in the CSL. The seventh chapter summarizes this dissertation and provides suggestions for future study.</p> / Dissertation

Currents and sea level fluctuations in the Avalon Channel, driven over a broad range of time scales by buoyancy forces, atmospheric pressure, and wind stress, are described and compared with dynamical theory. / Seasonal fluctuations in adjusted coastal sea level at St. John's are shown to be consistent with steric height and bottom pressure variations 3 km offshore in a depth of 180 m. / Low frequency fluctuations (periods of 7-50 d) in observed Avalon Channel currents and water properties suggest the presence of a baroclinically-unstable, buoyancy-driven coastal current. A kinematic analysis of the current fluctuations reveals an eddy structure resembling that predicted for baroclinically-unstable waves on a longshore current with the density stratification and vertical shear observed in the fall. / Cross-spectral analysis of St. John's sea level and meteorological records, and Avalon Channel steric height estimates, shows that sea level responds isostatically to atmospheric pressure forcing at periods longer than 2 days, and to seasonal changes in steric height. Adjusted sea level responds 180 degrees out-of-phase to forcing by longshore wind stress at periods longer than 2 days. Longshore current responds in-phase to longshore wind stress forcing, with surface intensification of the response close to shore. / Frequency response functions are derived from the shallow water equations of motion for the response of sea level and current to atmospheric pressure and wind stress forcing in homogeneous and two-layer, uniform-depth coastal ocean models, and in a homogeneous, step-shelf model. Linear bottom friction is assumed in the homogeneous ocean models. The phases of the observed sea level and current responses to wind stress suggest that the response is due to the existence of continental shelf waves originating at the northern edge of the Grand Banks, about 150 km away from the study site. The near-shore surface intensification of the current and sea level responses are consistent with the predictions of the two-layer uniform-depth model.

Orientador: Ines Joeks / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T21:07:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lage_EulerMartins_D.pdf: 1438659 bytes, checksum: 1425117a8c06f2ba303a23663ae033c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002 / Resumo: Neste trabalho estudou-se o transporte de CO2 através da interface água-ar e a sua difusão na água, a partir de experimentos simples e de baixo custo, em escala laboratorial. Para este estudo foram utilizadas soluções aquosas de diferentes salinidades (0, 10, 30 e 65 g/kg), a diferentes temperaturas (25 e 40 °C). Para a determinação da concentração de CO2 dissolvido, adicionou-se indicadores ácido-base. Foram obtidas imagens das soluções a diferentes tempos após o início da difusão. As imagens foram digitalizadas e tratadas com rotinas desenvolvidas utilizando-se o software Matlab. Técnicas de calibração multivariada foram usadas para construir a escala de pH x cor, a partir de curvas de calibração construídas para cada condição experimental. Construiu-se também subrotinas para o cálculo de variogramas e a partir desses calculou-se a dimensão fractal de algumas imagens. Em ensaios iniciais, provou-se que os resultados de velocidade de difusão estão de acordo com a literatura. Nos ensaios definitivos observou-se que os padrões da difusão do CO2 foram reprodutíveis. Ensaios realizados numa cuba retangular em ausência de turbulência mostraram dois padrões de difusão do CO2. Em todas as salinidades, a 40°C e a 25°C com salinidade 65g/kg, o padrão de difusão mostrou uma frente que se desloca de uma maneira regular, na forma de uma cortina. Nas outras condições, a difusão se processa na forma de viscous fingers, caótica e irregular. A salinidade de 65 g/kg proporcionou uma diminuição significativa na velocidade de difusão para ambas as temperaturas. Os resultados foram interpretados em termos da quantidade de CO2 dissolvido, que é maior no segundo caso, e em termos da viscosidade das soluções, que é menor a menor salinidade. Em outro capítulo, estudou-se o fluxo de CO2 e outros gases causadores de efeito estufa (CH4 e N2O) em amostras de pântanos, variando-se a temperatura e a concentração atmosférica de CO2. Os experimentos de medida do fluxo destes gases apresentaram como resultados mais importantes a extrema variabilidade dos valores de fluxo de CH4 e o fato de só se obter uma relação estatisticamente significante entre a produção de CO2 a concentração desse gás na atmosfera / Abstract: In this work CO2 transport through the interface water-air and its diffusion in water, using simple and low cost experiments, in laboratorial scale was studied. Aqueous solutions of different salinities (0, 10, 30 and 65 g/kg) and temperatures (25 and 40° C) had been studied. In order to determinate dissolved CO2 acid-base indicator was added to the solution. Diffusion images were recorded by VHS camera. The images had been digitalized and treated with routines developed using Matlab software. Techniques of multivaried calibration were used to elaborate the pH x color scale from constructed curves of calibration for each experimental condition. It was also constructed subrotines for the calculation of variograms and from them it was calculated the fractal dimension of some images. CO2 diffusion rates obtained in initial assays are in accordance with literature values. In the definitive assays it was observed that the diffusion pattern of CO2 had been reproducible. Assays carried out using a rectangular vessel without turbulence showed two pattern of CO2 diffusion. To all studied salinities, at 40°C and at 25°C with salinity 65 g/kg, the diffusion pattern showed a front that dislocates in a regular way, like a curtain. In the other conditions, the diffusion was chaotic and irregular presenting structures like viscous fingers. The salinity of 65 g/kg provided a significant reduction in the speed of diffusion for both temperatures. The results had been interpreted in terms of the amount of dissolved CO2, that is higher for the second pattern of diffusion and in terms of solutions viscosity, which is proportional to salinity. In another chapter, it was studied the CO2 flow and other greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O) in wetlands samples, varying its temperature and the atmospheric CO2 concentration. The most relevant results in these measure of the gases flow are the extreme variability of values of CH4 flow. The unique achieved statistically significant obtained relationship was between CO2 production and the concentration of this gas in the atmosphere / Doutorado / Físico-Química / Doutor em Ciências

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-232). / Marine ecosystems reflect the physical structure of their environment and the biological processes they carry out. This leads to spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability, some of which is imposed externally and some of which emerges from the ecological mechanisms themselves. The main focus of this thesis is on the formation of spatial patterns in the distribution of zooplankton arising from social interactions between individuals. In the Southern Ocean, krill often assemble in swarms and schools, the dynamics of which have important ecological consequences. Mathematical and numerical models are employed to study the interplay of biological and physical processes that contribute to the observed patchiness. The evolution of social behavior is simulated in a theoretical framework that includes zooplankton population dynamics, swimming behavior, and some aspects of the variability inherent to fluid environments. First, I formulate a model of resource utilization by a stage-structured predator population with density-dependent reproduction. Second, I incorporate the predator-prey dynamics into a spatially-explicit model, in which aggregations develop spontaneously as a result of linear instability of the uniform distribution. In this idealized ecosystem, benefits related to the local abundance of mates are offset by the cost of having to share resources with other group members. Third, I derive a weakly nonlinear approximation for the steady-state distributions of predator and prey biomass that captures the spatial patterns driven by social tendencies. Fourth, I simulate the schooling behavior of zooplankton in a variable environment; when turbulent flows generate patchiness in the resource field, schools can forage more efficiently than individuals. / (cont.) Taken together, these chapters demonstrate that aggregation/ schooling can indeed be the favored behavior when (i) reproduction (or other survival measures) increases with density in part of the range and (ii) mixing of prey into patches is rapid enough to offset the depletion. In the final two chapters, I consider sources of temporal variability in marine ecosystems. External perturbations amplified by nonlinear ecological interactions induce transient ex-cursions away from equilibrium; in predator-prey dynamics the amplitude and duration of these transients are controlled by biological processes such as growth and mortality. In the Southern Ocean, large-scale winds associated with ENSO and the Southern Annular Mode cause convective mixing, which in turn drives air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Whether driven by stochastic fluctuations or by climatic phenomena, variability of the biogeochemical/physical environment has implications for ecosystem dynamics. / by Ariane Verdy. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63). / The work was motivated by studies of Austin and Lentz (2002) and Pedlosky (2007). The above mentioned works considered two different responses of the stratified flow to a downwelling favorable wind forcing. The first study investigated a time dependent flow with a formation of a constantly expanding relatively well mixed region near the shore and the second considered a steady flow that arises when an offshore varying wind is applied. In my thesis I use ROMS to determine which type of response will take place based on the wind amplitude near the coast. It was demonstrated that if the value of the wind is much smaller than the critical value (determined by the stratification, the rotation rate and the horizontal diffusivity) then the flow is steady (the bbl case) and similar to the one investigated by Pedlosky. If the wind is of the order, or larger than, the critical value then the response is time dependent (the pool case) and similar to the one described by Austin and Lentz. The resulting flow structure of each response was also investigated. I examined the sensitivity of the bbl response to variations in the background vertical diffusivity, the initial stratification and the bottom slope. It was shown that a higher background vertical diffusivity, a higher stratification and a shallower bottom slope correspond to thinner (vertically) and narrower (horizontally) bbl. For the pool case the time dependent structure was also examined, using a number of idealized models. It was shown that the rate of the pool region expansion is a complex function of the local wind stress amplitude and the local depth. / by Evgeny Logvinov. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-215). / Observations from a three-year field program on the inner shelf south of Martha's Vineyard, MA and a numerical model are used to describe the effect of stratification on inner shelf circulation, transport, and sediment resuspension height. Thermal stratification above the bottom mixed layer is shown to cap the height to which sediment is resuspended. Stratification increases the transport driven by cross-shelf wind stresses, and this effect is larger in the response to offshore winds than onshore winds. However, a one-dimensional view of the dynamics is not sufficient to explain the relationship between circulation and stratification. An idealized, cross-shelf transect in a numerical model (ROMS) is used to isolate the effects of stratification, wind stress magnitude, surface heat flux, cross-shelf density gradient, and wind direction on the inner shelf response to the cross-shelf component of the wind stress. In well mixed and weakly stratified conditions, the cross-shelf density gradient can be used to predict the transport efficiency of the cross-shelf wind stress. In stratified conditions, the presence of an along-shelf wind stress component makes the inner shelf response to cross-shelf wind stress strongly asymmetric. / by Rachel Mandy Horwitz. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-74). / Interactions between physical and biological processes in the Southern Ocean have significant impacts on local ecosystems as well as on global climate. In this thesis, I present evidence that the Southern Ocean circulation affects the variability of zooplankton and sea surface temperature, both of which are involved in air-sea exchanges of carbon dioxide. First, I examine the formation of spatial patterns in the distribution of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) resulting from social behavior. Turbulence of the flow is found to provide favorable conditions for the evolution social behavior in an idealized biological-physical model. Second, I analyze observations of sea surface temperature variability in the region of the Antarctic circumpolar current. Results suggest that propagating anomalies can be explained as a linear response to local atmospheric forcing by the Southern Annular Mode and remote forcing by El-Nifio southern oscillation, in the presence of advection by a mean flow. / by Ariane Verdy. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-86). / The impact of the Greenland tip jet on the wintertime mixed-layer of the southwest Irminger Sea is investigated using in-situ moored profiler data and a variety of atmospheric data sets. The mixed-layer was observed to reach 400 m in the spring of 2003, and 300 m in the spring of 2004. Both of these winters were mild and characterized by a low North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. All of the storms that were advected through the region were tracked, and the tip jet events that occurred throughout the two winters were identified. Composite images of the tip jets elucidated the conditions during which tip jets were likely to take place, which led to an objective method of determining tip jet occurrences by taking into account the large-scale pressure gradients. Output from a trajectory model indicates that the air parcels entering a tip jet accelerate and descend as they are deflected around southern Greenland. A heat flux timeseries for the mooring site was constructed that includes the enhancing influence of the tip jet events. This was used to drive a one-dimensional mixed-layer model, which was able to reproduce the observed mixed-layer deepening in both winters. All of the highest heat flux events took place during tip jets, and removal of the tip jets from the heat flux timeseries demonstrated their importance in driving convection east of Greenland. / (cont.) The deeper mixed-layer of the first winter was in large part due to a higher number of robust tip jet events, which in turn was caused by a greater number of storms passing northeast of southern Greenland. This interannual change in storm tracks was attributable to a difference in upper level steering currents. Application of the mixed-layer model to the winter of 1994-1995, during a period characterized by a high NAO index, resulted in convection reaching 1600 m. This prediction is consistent with concurrent hydrographic data, supporting the notion that deep convection can occur in the Irminger Sea during strong winters. / by Kjetil Våge. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-67). / Coupled ocean/atmosphere simulations exhibit systematic warm biases over the South West African (SWA) coastal region. Recent investigations indicate that coastal ocean dynamics may play an important role in determining the SST patterns, but none of them provide a detailed analysis. In this study, I analyze simulations produced both by coupled models and by idealized models. Then results are interpreted on the basis of a theoretical framework. Finally the conclusion is reached that the insufficient resolution of the ocean component in the coupled model is responsible for the warm biases over the SWA coastal region. The coarse resolution used in the ocean model has an artificially stretched coastal side-wall boundary layer, which induces a smaller upwelling velocity in the boundary layer. The vertical heat transport decreases even when the volume transport is unchanged because of its nonlinear relationship with the magnitude of the upwelling velocity. Based on the scaling of the idealized model simulations, a simplified calculation shows that the vertical heat transport is inversely proportional to the zonal resolution over the coastal region. Therefore, increasing the horizontal resolution can considerably improve the coastal SST simulation, and better resolve the coastal dynamics. / by Jinbo Wang. / S.M.