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), February 2000. / "February 2000." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-171). / The variability of salt transport determines the variation of the length of the salinity intrusion and the large-scale density gradient in an estuary. This thesis contains three studies that address salt transport and the salt balance. The variation of salt transport with the depth, the along-channel salinity gradient, and the amplitude of the tidal velocity is investigated with analytic and numerical models. The results indicate that salt transport increases dramatically during stratified periods when vertical mixing is weak. Analysis of salt transport from observations in the Hudson Estuary show that stratified periods with elevated estuarine salt transport occur in five-day intervals once a month during apogean neap tides. Oscillatory salt transport, which is hypothesized to be primarily caused by lateral exchange and mixing of salt, appears to play a more minor role in the salt balance of the estuary. The salt balance of the estuary adjusts very little to the spring-neap modulation of salt transport but adjusts rapidly to pulses of freshwater flow. A simple model is used to investigate the process and time scales of adjustment of the salt balance by connecting variations of salt transport to the variations of freshwater flow and vertical mixing. The results show the length of the salinity intrusion adjust via advection to rapid and large increases in freshwater flow. The salinity intrusion adjusts more rapidly to the spring-neap cycle of tidal mixing the higher the freshwater flow. / by Melissa Marie Bowen. / 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), September 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-215). / This thesis is written in two parts. The first part deals with the problem of lateral dispersion due to mesoscale eddies in the open ocean, and the interaction between the mesoscale strain and horizontal diffusion on spatial scales less than 10 km. The second and major part examines lateral dispersion over the continental shelf on scales of 100 m to 10 km and over time scales of 1-5 days. PART I: Lateral Dispersion and the North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment Mixing and stirring of Lagrangian particles and a passive tracer were studied by comparison of float and tracer observations from the North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment. Statistics computed from the NATRE floats were found to be similar to those estimated by Ledwell et al. (1998) from the tracer dispersion. Mean velocities computed from the floats were .. The NATRE observations were used to evaluate theoretical models of tracer and particle dispersal. The tracer dispersion observed by Ledwell et al. (1998) was consistent with an exponential growth phase for about the first 6 months and a linear growth at larger times. A numerical model of mesoscale turbulence that was calibrated with float statistics also showed an exponential growth phase of tracer and a reduced growth for longer times. Numerical results further show that Garrett's (1983) theory, relating the effective small-scale diffusivity to the rms strain rate and tracer streak width, requires a scale factor of 2 when the observed growth rate of streak length is used as a measure of the strain rate. This scale factor will be different for different measures of the strain rate, and may also be affected by temporal and spatial variations in the mesoscale strain field. PART II: Lateral Dispersion over the New England Continental Shelf Lateral dispersion over the continental shelf was examined using dye studies of the Coastal Mixing and Optics (CMO) program. Four experiments performed at intermediate depths and lasting 3 to 5 days were examined. In some cases, the dye patches remained fairly homogeneous both vertically and horizontally throughout an experiment. In other cases, significant patchiness was observed on scales ranging from 2-10 m vertically and a few hundred meters to a few kilometers horizontally. The observations also showed that the dye distributions were significantly influenced by shearing and straining on scales of 5-10 m in the vertical and 1-10 km in the horizontal. Superimposed on these larger-scale distortions were simultaneous increases in the horizontal second moments of the dye patches, with corresponding horizontal diffusivities based on a Fickian diffusion model of 0.3 to 4.9 m2 s-1. Analysis of the dye data in concert with shear estimates from shipboard ADCP observations showed that the existing paradigms of shear dispersion and dispersion by interleaving water-masses can not account for the observed diffusive spreading of the dye patches. This result suggests that some other mechanisms provided an additional diffusivity of order 0.15 to 4.0 m2 s-1. An alternative mechanism, dispersion by vortical motions caused by the relaxation of diapycnal mixing events, was proposed which could explain the observed dispersion in some cases. Order-of-magnitude estimates of the effective lateral dispersion due to vortical motions showed that this mechanism could account for effective horizontal diffusivities of order 0.01 to 1.1 m2 s-1. The upper range of these estimates were within the range required by the observations for two of the four experiments examined. / by Miles Aaron Sundermeyer. / 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), 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-123). / Interactions between the ocean circulation in sub-ice shelf cavities and the overlying ice shelf have received considerable attention in the context of observed changes in flow speeds of marine ice sheets around Antarctica. Modeling these interactions requires parameterizing the turbulent boundary layer processes to infer melt rates from the oceanic state at the ice-ocean interface. Here we explore two such parameterizations in the context of the MIT ocean general circulation model coupled to the z-coordinates ice shelf cavity model of Losch (2008). We investigate both idealized ice shelf cavity geometries as well as a realistic cavity under Pine Island Ice Shelf (PIIS), West Antarctica. Our starting point is a three-equation melt rate parameterization implemented by Losch (2008), which is based on the work of Hellmer and Olbers (1989). In this form, the transfer coefficients for calculating heat and freshwater fluxes are independent of frictional turbulence induced by the proximity of the moving ocean to the fixed ice interface. More recently, Holland and Jenkins (1999) have proposed a parameterization in which the transfer coefficients do depend on the ocean-induced turbulence and are directly coupled to the speed of currents in the ocean mixed layer underneath the ice shelf through a quadratic drag formulation and a bulk drag coefficient. The melt rate parameterization in the MITgcm is augmented to account for this velocity dependence. First, the effect of the augmented formulation is investigated in terms of its impact on melt rates as well as on its feedback on the wider sub-ice shelf circulation. We find that, over a wide range of drag coefficients, velocity-dependent melt rates are more strongly constrained by the distribution of mixed layer currents than by the temperature gradient between the shelf base and underlying ocean, as opposed to velocity-independent melt rates. This leads to large differences in melt rate patterns under PIIS when including versus not including the velocity dependence. In a second time, the modulating effects of tidal currents on melting at the base of PIIS are examined. We find that the temporal variability of velocity-dependent melt rates under tidal forcing is greater than that of velocity-independent melt rates. Our experiments suggest that because tidal currents under PIIS are weak and buoyancy fluxes are strong, tidal mixing is negligible and tidal rectification is restricted to very steep bathymetric features, such as the ice shelf front. Nonetheless, strong tidally-rectified currents at the ice shelf front significantly increase ablation rates there when the formulation of the transfer coefficients includes the velocity dependence. The enhanced melting then feedbacks positively on the rectified currents, which are susceptible to insulate the cavity interior from changes in open ocean conditions. / by Véronique Dansereau. / S.M.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-162). / This work concerns the nitrogen fixation and abundance of Trichodesmium colonies in the western subtropical-tropical North Atlantic and their connections with physical processes. Data were collected in fall 2010 and spring 2011, primarily using the Video Plankton Recorder (VPR). A data processing procedure for estimating the abundance of rare taxa was devised to take advantage of the accuracy of manual classification and the effort savings of automatic classification. The procedure entails selecting a subset of the original dataset, classifying it with automated software, and then manually correcting each classification. The method was validated through comparisons with fully classified VPR data and with abundance data based on microscopic enumeration on preserved samples. Correlations of Trichodesmium colony abundance with the eddy field emerged in two subsets of the VPR observations. In fall 2010, local maxima in abundance were observed in a series of cyclones. We hypothesized Ekman transport convergence/ divergence in cyclones/anticyclones as a driving mechanism. We investigated the process using idealized three-dimensional models of buoyant colonies in eddies. Elevated abundances in anticyclones in spring 2011 were correlated with anomalously fresh water, suggesting riverine input as a driver of the relationship. Finally, we evaluated the hypothesis of Davis and McGillicuddy (2006) that Trichodesmium nitrogen fixation in the North Atlantic may be underestimated by conventional sampling methods, based on their VPR observations of higher than expected colony abundances at depth in the subtropical North Atlantic. A bio-optical model was developed based on carbon-normalized nitrogen fixation rates measured in fall 2010 and spring 2011 and used to estimate nitrogen fixation over the VPR transects. Estimates of abundance and nitrogen fixation were similar in magnitude and vertical and geographical distribution to estimates compiled in a database by Luo et al. (2012). In the mean, VPR-based estimates of volume-specific nitrogen fixation rates at depth in the tropical North Atlantic were not inconsistent with estimates derived from conventional sampling methods. Based on this analysis, if Trichodesmium nitrogen fixation is underestimated, it is unlikely that it is attributable to underestimation of deep colony abundances due to mechanical disturbance during net-based sampling. / by Elise Marie Black Olson. / Ph. D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2020 / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-145). / Over the last 20 years, our understanding of the meridional overturning circulation has improved, but primarily in a two-dimensional, zonally-averaged framework. In this thesis, I have pushed beyond this simplification and shown that the additional complexity of meanders, storm tracks, and other zonal asymmetries is necessary to reproduce the lowest-order behavior of the overturning circulation. First I examined the role of basin width for determining whether the Atlantic or Pacific oceans experience deep convection. I used a two layered model and a rectangular single-basin model to show that the basin width, in combination with scalings for the overturning circulation make the overturning relatively weaker in the wider basin, priming it for a convection shut down. / In addition to this large-scale work, I have examined Southern Ocean-like meanders using a hierarchy of idealized models to understand the role of bottom topography in determining how the large-scale circulation responds to climate change scenarios. These are useful because they preserve the lowest-order behavior, while remaining simple enough to understand. I tested the response of the stratification and transport in the Southern Ocean to changes in wind using a highly-idealized two-layer quasi-geostrophic model. In addition to showing that meanders are necessary to reproduce the behavior of the Southern Ocean, I found that strong winds concentrate the baroclinic and barotropic instabilities downstream of the bottom topography and weaken the instabilities elsewhere due to a form-drag process. With weak winds, however, the system is essentially symmetric in longitude, like a flat-bottomed ocean. / This result is consistent with observations of elevated turbulence down-stream of major topography in the Southern Ocean. My next study investigated a more realistic Southern Ocean-like channel, with and without bottom topography, and examined the three-dimensional circulation in order to understand where vertical transport occurs and develop a picture of the pathways taken by each individual water parcel. I found that the vertical transport happens in very isolated locations, just downstream of topography. Finally, I added a biogeochemical model to my simulations and found that carbon fluxes are enhanced near topography, again highlighting the role of zonal asymmetries. / by Madeleine Kendall Youngs. / Ph. D. / Ph.D. Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Thesis: S.M., Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February, 2021 / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 81-85). / Estimating turbulence in the marine-atmospheric boundary layer is critical to many industrial, commercial and scientific fields, but of particular importance to the wind energy industry. Contributing to both the efficiency of energy extraction and the life-cycle cost of the turbine itself, turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer is estimated within the wind energy industry as Turbulence Intensity (TI) and more recently by Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE). Traditional in-situ methods to measure turbulence are extremely difficult to deploy in the marine environment, resulting in a recent movement to and dependence on remote sensing methods. One type of remote sensing instrument, Doppler lidars, have shown to reliably estimate the wind speed and atmospheric turbulence while being cost effective and easily deployable, and hence are being increasingly utilized as a standard for wind energy assessments. / In this thesis, the ability of lidars to measure turbulence up to a height of 200 m above mean sea level in the marine-atmospheric boundary layer was tested using a 7-month data set spanning winter to early summer. Lidar-based TI and TKE were estimated by three methods using observations from a highly validated lidar system and compared under both convective and stable atmospheric stability conditions. Convective periods were found to have higher turbulence at all the heights compared to stable conditions, while mean wind speed and shear were higher during stable conditions. The study period was characterized by generally low turbulent conditions with high turbulence events occurring at timescales of a few days. Mean vertical profiles of TKE were non-uniformly distributed in height during low turbulent conditions. During highly turbulent events, TKE increased more strongly with height. The definition of TI--following the industry or meteorology conventions -- / had no real effect on the results, and differences between cup or sonic anemometers and lidar TI values were small except at low wind speeds. All the three lidar-based TKE methods tested corresponded closely to independent estimates, and differences between the methods were small relative to the temporal variability of TKE observed at the offshore site. / by Praneeth Gurumurthy. / S.M. / S.M. Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

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. 115-127). / A modern general circulation model of the Southern Ocean with one-sixth of a degree resolution is optimized to the observed ocean in a weighted least squares sense. Convergence to the state estimate solution is carried out by systematically adjusting the control variables (atmospheric state and initial conditions) using the adjoint model. A cost function compares the model state to in situ observations (Argo float profiles, CTD synoptic sections, SEaOS instrument mounted seal profiles, and XBTs), altimetric observations (ENVISAT, GEOSAT, Jason, TOPEX/Poseidon), and other data sets (e.g. infrared and microwave radiometer observed sea surface temperature and NSIDC sea-ice concentration). Costs attributed to control variable perturbations ensure a physically realistic solution. The state estimate is found to be largely consistent with the individual observations, as well as with integrated fluxes inferred from previous static inverse models. The transformed Eulerian mean formulation is an elegant way to theorize about the Southern Ocean. Current researchers utilizing this framework, however, have been making assumptions that render their theories largely irrelevant to the actual ocean. It is shown that theories of the overturning circulation must include the effect of pressure forcing. This is true in the most buoyant waters, where pressure forcing overcomes eddy and wind forcing to balance a poleward geostrophic transport and allows the buoyancy budget to be closed. Pressure forcing is also lowest order at depth. Indeed, the Southern Ocean's characteristic multiple cell overturning is primarily in geostrophic balance. Several other aspects of the Southern Ocean circulation are also investigated in the thesis, including an analysis of the magnitude and variability of heat, salt, and volume inter-basin transports. / by Matthew R. Mazloff. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, 1981. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography: leaves 98-99. / by Ronald Francis Fournier. / M.S.

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 (leaf 119). / The linear and nonlinear Rossby wave solutions are examined in homogeneous square basins on the [beta]-plane both with and without a thin meridional barrier. In the presence of the meridional barrier the basin is almost partitioned into two; only two small gaps of equal width, d, to the north and south of the barrier allow communication between the eastern and western sub-basins. Solutions are forced by a steady periodic wind forcing applied over a meridional strip near the eastern side. Bottom friction is present to allow the solutions to reach equilibrium. The linear solution for the basin containing the barrier is determined analytically and the nonlinear solutions for both basins are found numerically. In the linear solution with the barrier present, particular attention was paid to the resonant solutions. We examined the effects of varying the symmetry of the forcing about the mid-latitude, the frequency of the periodic forcing and the strength of the bottom friction. For each solution we focus on how the no net circulation condition, which is central to any solution in a barrier basin, is satisfied. The nonlinear solutions were studied for both basin configurations. In each case the transition from the weakly nonlinear solution to the turbulent solution was examined, as the forcing frequency and forcing strength were varied. Only integer multiples of the forcing frequency are present in the weakly nonlinear solutions. The turbulent solutions were accompanied by the appearance of many other frequencies whose exact origins are unknown, but are probably the result of instabilities. A hysteresis was found for the turbulent solutions of both the barrier-free and barrier basins. In the weakly nonlinear solutions of the barrier basin it was predicted and confirmed that there is never a steady net flow from sub-basin to sub-basin. It was also shown that with a symmetric forcing all modes oscillating with an odd multiple of the forcing frequency are symmetric and all modes oscillating with even multiples of the forcing frequency are antisymmetric. / by Juli Atherton. / 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), 1987. / Includes bibliographies. / by Paola Cessi. / Ph.D.