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Dissipation of Mesoscale Energy by Vortex-Topography Interaction

Energy is introduced into the oceans primarily at large scales by means of wind, tides and surface buoyancy forcing. This energy is
transferred to the smaller mesoscale eld through the geostrophic instability processes. The mesoscale eld appears not to have accelerated
appreciably over the last several decades, so we can assume that the mesoscale loses energy at roughly the same rate it receives energy.
Interestingly, how the mesoscale loses energy is not quite clear. We have been exploring topographic interaction as a pathway by which the
mesoscale may lose energy to unbalanced forward cascading flows. To demonstrate this phenomenon, an approximate model theory is developed
which consists of solving a reduced set of the momentum equations in density coordinates for any topographic conguration. The equations are
solved using a high order spectral element technique and the results are similar to already published MITgcm simulations. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 13, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / William Dewar, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Eric Chassignet, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Allan
Clarke, Committee Member; David Kopriva, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_604952
ContributorsBishnu, Siddhartha (author), Dewar, William K. (professor co-directing thesis), Chassignet, Eric P. (professor co-directing thesis), Clarke, Allan J. (committee member), Kopriva, David A. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science (degree granting departmentdgg)
PublisherFlorida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text, master thesis
Format1 online resource (192 pages), computer, application/pdf

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