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), 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-51). / If the ocean is in a statistically steady state, energy balance is a strong constraint, suggesting that the energy input into the world ocean is dissipated simultaneously at the same rate. Energy conservation is one of the most important principles in the natural world. However, the study of energy balance in the oceanic circulation has long been overlooked. Mink and Winch (1998) proposed that energy is needed to maintain the meridional overturning circulation and they also concluded that the wind energy input into the world ocean constitute the most important part. Since then, many estimates on the wind energy input have been given with a focus on different time and spatial scales. It is well known that it is the air-sea momentum flux (wind stress) that actually drives the ocean circulation, especially the upper layer circulation. Due to the difficulties of directly measuring the wind stress, different algorithms were proposed to relate the wind stress with the wind velocity and other related atmospheric and oceanic variables. Different algorithms in fact produce quite different wind stresses, which may leads to spurious estimates in the wind energy input into the world ocean. The thesis is organized as follows. In chapter 1, we try to understand the difference of four bulk algorithms, and conclude that different bulk algorithms may yield the wind energy input differences of 20%. Comparison of 4 different wind stress dataset were presented in Chapter 2. However, we do not determine which product is the best. In Chapter 3, a simple numerical experiment was executed and some preliminary estimate on the effects of introducing the wind stress dependence on the oceanic surface velocity were given. The ECCO data computation, however, does not produce the results as expected and some explanations are given. / by Shaoyu Yuan. / 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), 2009. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-211). / My thesis covers two general circulation problems that involve the stability of largescale oceanic flows and the importance of non-local effects. The first problem examines the stability of meridional boundary currents, which are found on both sides of most ocean basins because of the presence of continents. A linear stability analysis of a meridional boundary current on the beta-plane is performed using a quasi-geostrophic model in order to determine the existence of radiating instabilities, a type of instability that propagates energy away from its origin region by exciting Rossby waves and can thus act as a source of eddy energy for the ocean interior. It is found that radiating instabilities are commonly found in both eastern and western boundary currents. However, there are some significant dierences that make eastern boundary currents more interesting from a radiation point of view. They possess a larger number of radiating modes, characterized by horizontal wavenumbers which would make them appear like zonal jets as they propagate into the ocean interior. The second problem examines the circulation in a nonlinear thermally-forced twolayer quasi-geostrophic ocean. The only driving force for the circulation in the model is a cross-isopycnal flux parameterized as interface relaxation. This forcing is similar to the radiative damping used commonly in atmospheric models, except that it is applied to the ocean circulation in a closed basin and is meant to represent the large-scale thermal forcing acting on the oceans. / (cont.) It is found that in the strongly nonlinear regime a substantial, not directly thermally-driven barotropic circulation is generated. Its variability in the limit of weak bottom drag is dominated by highfrequency barotropic basin modes. It is demonstrated that the excitation of basin normal modes has significant consequences for the mean state of the system and its variability, conclusions that are likely to apply for any other system whose variability is dominated by basin modes, no matter the forcing. A linear stability analysis performed on a wind- and a thermally-forced double-gyre circulation reveals that under certain conditions the basin modes can arise from local instabilities of the flow. / by Hristina G. Hristova. / Ph.D.

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), 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-166). / by Daniel Reed Goldner. / Ph.D.

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), 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-168). / Observations and inverse models suggest that small-scale turbulent mixing is enhanced in the Southern Ocean in regions above rough topography. The enhancement extends 1 km above the topography suggesting that mixing is supported by breaking of gravity waves radiated from the ocean bottom. In other regions, gravity wave radiation by bottom topography has been primarily associated with the barotropic tide. In this study, we explore the alternative hypothesis that the enhanced mixing in the Southern Ocean is sustained by internal waves generated by geostrophic motions flowing over bottom topography. Weakly-nonlinear theory is used to describe the internal wave generation and the feedback of the waves on the zonally averaged flow. A major finding is that the waves generated at the ocean bottom at finite inverse Froude numbers drive vigorous inertial oscillations. The wave radiation and dissipation at equilibrium is therefore the result of both geostrophic flow and inertial oscillations and differs substantially from the classical lee wave problem. The theoretical predictions are tested versus two-dimensional and three-dimensional high resolution numerical simulations with parameters representative of the Drake Passage region. Theory and fully nonlinear numerical simulations are used to estimate internal wave radiation from LADCP, CTD and topography data from two regions in the Southern Ocean: Drake Passage and the Southeast Pacific. The results show that radiation and dissipation of internal waves generated by geostrophic motions reproduce the magnitude and distribution of dissipation measured in the region. / by Maxim Nikurashin. / Ph.D.

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), 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-213). / This thesis explores the role that the circulation in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) plays in determining the distribution of dense aggregations of copepods. These aggregations are an important part of the marine ecosystem, especially for endangered North Atlantic right whales. Certain ocean processes may generate dense copepod aggregations, while others may destroy them; this thesis looks at how different characteristics of the GOM circulation fit into these two categories. The first part of the thesis investigates a hypothetical aggregation mechanism in which frontal circulation interacts with copepod behavior to generate a dense patch of copepods. The first two chapters of this thesis address this mechanism in the context of coastal river plumes and salinity fronts. One chapter describes the characteristics and variability of coastal freshwater and salinity fronts using a historical dataset and a realistic numerical model. The seasonal variability of freshwater is tied in part to seasonality in river discharge, while variability on shorter time scales in the frontal position is related to wind stress. Another chapter applies the hypothetical mechanism to idealized river plumes using a suite of numerical models. The structure of the plume and plume-relative circulation change the resulting copepod aggregation from what is expected from the hypothetical mechanism. The second part of the thesis discusses the GOM circulation and how it may eliminate copepod patches. The summertime mean surface circulation and eddy kinetic energy are computed from a Lagrangian drifter dataset and an adaptive technique that allows for higher spatial resolution while also keeping uncertainty low. Eddy diffusivity is also computed over different regions of the GOM in an attempt to quantify the spreading of a patch of copepods, and is found to be lower near the coast where right whales are often found feeding on copepod patches. In the next chapter, a numerical drifter dataset is used to understand how the results of the previous chapter depend upon the quantity of observations. It is found that the uncertainty in estimating eddy diffusivity is tightly coupled to the number of drifters in the calculation. / by Nicholas W. Woods / 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), 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-120). / The interaction between the eddy field and the mean flow near the Gulf Stream is studied here using satellite altimeter measurements and an eddy resolving numerical model. The eddy vorticity flux in the quasigeostrophic framework is obtained from the stream function standard deviation and spatial correlation function assuming the correlation function is homogeneous. An analytical expression is found for the stream function correlation using the altimetric and numerical data. Cases when the correlation function is anisotropic are compared to the isotropic case previously studied by Hogg (1993), who found that the eddy vorticity flux drives two counter rotating gyres on either side of the stream. The anisotropy can be important in the eddy vorticity flux, even when its departure from the isotropic case is small. Meridional or zonal anisotropies can drive recirculation gyres similar in strength and position to the ones driven by the isotropic case. The results when including anisotropy in the diagonal direction suggest that the homogenoeus assumption may not be valid. / by Juan Botella. / 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), 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-77). / Mixing induced by gravity currents on a sloping bottom was studied through laboratory experiments in a rotating fluid. The dense fluid on the sloping bottom formed a gravity current that could be in regimes where the flow was laminar or had waves. The mixing on a sloping bottom for gravity currents in the laminar and wave regimes was studied both qualitatively and quantitatively. The laboratory experiments were conducted on rotating tables in a tank with homogeneous ambient fluid. The slope angle, rotation rate, reduced gravity, and flow rate of the dense source water were changed for the experiments. The mixing was quantized by measuring the density of the ambient fluid, dense source water, and the bottom water collected at the end of the bottom slope and calculating the ratio of the source water in the bottom water. Comparing the mixing in the laminar regime and the wave regime by changing the slope angle and rotation rate showed that the waves in the gravity current increased the mixing due to the waves. Analysis of the ratio of source water based on the internal Froude number, the Ekman number, and the timescale of the experiments showed that diffusion was not the main mechanism for mixing. The Ekman layer solution was validated by the observation of a streak left by a grain of dye in the dense water layer. The values for the entrainment parameter for the laboratory experiments bracketed those calculated for the Denmark Strait overflow and the Mediterranean outflow, and the values based on observations in the ocean and those from the laboratory were similar for a nondimensional parameter defined using variables used in the laboratory experiments. This shows that the results from the experiments could be used to discuss the mixing in the ocean due to gravity currents along a slope in the ocean and that the waves observed in the laboratory might also be observed in the ocean. / by Mitchihiro Ohiwa. / 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), 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-264). / This thesis examines the nature of eddy-mean flow interactions in western boundary current jets and recirculation gyre dynamics from both theoretical and observational perspectives. It includes theoretical studies of eddy-mean flow interactions in idealized configurations relevant to western boundary current jet systems, namely (i) a study of the mechanism by which eddies generated from a localized forcing drive mean recirculation gyres through the process of nonlinear rectification; and (ii) a study of the role of eddies in the downstream evolution of a baroclinic jet subject to mixed instabilities. It also includes an observational analysis to characterize eddy-mean flow interactions in the Kuroshio Extension using data from the downstream location of maximum eddy kinetic energy in the jet. New insights are presented into a rectification mechanism by which eddies drive the recirculation gyres observed in western boundary current systems. Via this mechanism, eddies drive the recirculations by an up-gradient eddy potential vorticity flux inside a localized region of eddy activity. The effectiveness of the process depends on the properties of the energy radiation from the region, which in turn depends on the population of waves excited. In the zonally-evolving western boundary current jet, eddies also act to stabilize the unstable jet through down-gradient potential vorticity fluxes. In this configuration, the role of eddies depends critically on their downstream location relative to where the unstable time-mean jet first becomes stabilized by the eddy activity. The zonal advection of eddy activity from upstream of this location is fundamental to the mechanism permitting the eddies to drive the mean flows. / (cont.) Observational results are presented that provide the first clear evidence of a northern recirculation gyre in the Kuroshio Extension, as well as support for the hypothesis that the recirculations are, at least partially, eddy-driven. Support for the idealized studies' relevance to the oceanic regime is provided both by indications that various model simplifications are appropriate to the observed system, as well as by demonstrated consistencies between model predictions and observational results in the downstream development of time-mean and eddy properties. / by Stephanie N. Waterman. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February, 2021 / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-135). / The early life stages of marine fishes play a critical role in population dynamics, largely due to their high abundance, high mortality, and ease of transport in ocean currents. This dissertation demonstrates the value of combining larval data, collected in the field and the laboratory, with model simulations. In Chapter 2, analyses of field observations of ontogenetic vertical distributions of coral reef fish revealed a diversity of behaviors both between and within families. In Caribbean-wide particle-tracking simulations of representative behaviors, surface-dwelling larvae were generally transported longer distances with greater population connectivity amongst habitat patches, while the evenly-distributed vertical behavior and downward ontogenetic vertical migration were similar to one another and led to greater retention near natal sites. However, hydrodynamics and habitat availability created some local patterns that contradicted the overall expectation. / Chapter 3 presents evidence of tuna spawning inside a large no-take marine protected area, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). Despite variation in temperature and chlorophyll, the larval tuna distributions were similar amongst years, with skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and Thunnus spp. tunas observed in all three years. Backtracking simulations indicated that spawning occurred inside PIPA in all 3 study years, demonstrating that PIPA is protecting viable tuna spawning habitat. In Chapter 4, several lines of larval evidence support the classification of the Slope Sea as a major spawning ground for Atlantic bluefin tuna with conditions suitable for larval growth. The abundance of bluefin tuna larvae observed in the Slope Sea aligns with typical observations on the other two spawning grounds. / Age and growth analyses of bluefin tuna larvae collected in the Slope Sea and the Gulf of Mexico in 2016 did not show a growth rate difference between regions, but did suggest that Slope Sea larvae are larger at the onset of exogenous feeding. Collected larvae were backtracked to locations north of Cape Hatteras and forward tracked to show that they would have been retained within the Slope Sea until the onset of swimming. As a whole, this thesis presents valuable contributions to the study of larval fishes and the attendant implications for marine resource management. / by Christina M. Hernández. / Ph. D. / Ph.D. Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Thesis: S.M., Joint Program in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-103). / The recent success of object detection systems motivates object-based representations for robot navigation; i.e. semantic simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), in which we aim to jointly estimate the pose of the robot over time as well as the location and semantic class observed objects. A solution to the semantic SLAM problem necessarily addresses the continuous inference problems where am I? and where are the objects?, but also the discrete inference problem what are the objects?. We consider the problem of semantic SLAM under non-Gaussian uncertainty. The most prominent case in which this arises is from data association uncertainty, where we do not know with certainty what objects in the environment caused the measurement made by our sensor. The semantic class of an object can help to inform data association; a detection classified as a door is unlikely to be associated to a chair object. / However, detectors are imperfect, and incorrect classification of objects can be detrimental to data association. While previous approaches seek to eliminate such measurements, we instead model the robot and landmark state uncertainty induced by data association in the hopes that new measurements may disambiguate state estimates, and that we may provide representations useful for developing decisionmaking strategies where a robot can take actions to mitigate multimodal uncertainty. The key insight we leverage is that the semantic SLAM problem with unknown data association can be refrained as a non-Gaussian inference problem. We present two solutions to the resulting problem: we first assume Gaussian measurement models, and non-Gaussianity only due to data association uncertainty. We then relax this assumption and provide a method that can cope with arbitrary non-Gaussian measurement models. / We show quantitatively on both simulated and real data that both proposed methods have robustness advantages as compared to traditional solutions when data associations are uncertain. / "Supported by the Office of Naval Research under grants N00014-18-1-2832 and N00014-16-2628, as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship"--Page 5 / by Kevin J. Doherty. / S.M. / S.M. Joint Program in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)