Temporal evolution of tritium-³He age in the North Atlantic : implications for thermocline ventilation

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1997This thesis is a study of the physical mechanisms that ventilate the subtropical thermocline of the eastern North Atlantic. The starting point is an analysis of the existent historical database of natural and anthropogenic tracers, with special emphasis on 3He and tritium, that can be used to infer rates of ventilation. If the flow is predominantly advective, the temporal evolution of coupled transient tracers can be used to define a tracer age which measures the elapsed time since a water parcel was resident in the surface mixed layer. A principle finding is that the observed tracer age shows a large and systematic change over time. Tritium-3He age in the eastern Atlantic thermocline is seen to increase over time; the magnitude of the change is greatest for the deeper, more slowly ventilated layers of the thermocline. The first hypothesis examined is that the observed shift in the tracer age field is the manifestation of a slackening of the physical ventilation. A time series of the meridional geostrophic velocity shear in the eastern Atlantic shows no indication of a change in the strength of the large-scale circulation. Uncertainty of the geostrophic calculation due to data sparsity and mesoscale eddy contamination prevents conclusive rejection of the hypothesis of a changing circulation. There are other tracers which offer useful clues: comparison of the tritium-3He age field with dissolved oxygen reveals a temporal trend in the property-property correlation. The spatial structure of the oxygen field, however, shows no long-term evolution over time. From this line of evidence it is concluded that the physical ventilation of the thermocline has not altered over time and, therefore, the temporal change in the tritium-3He age field must be the signal of the tritium invasion itself. A second hypothesis, which analysis shows is more consistent with the observations, is that the changing tracer age is a consequence of mixing effects in the ventilation of 3He and tritium. Numerical simulations of the thermocline ventilation of 3H and 3He are performed to examine the steadiness of the tracer age field under different advective-diffusive regimes. A one-dimensional model is constructed based on the assumption that the totality of the fluid in the thermocline derives from subduction out of the surface mixed layer. The temporal behavior of the tracer age field is found to be dependent on the radiotracer Peclet number, which measures the ratio of the diffusive and advective time scales. In a model with steady circulation, the observed temporal behavior of the tracer age field can be reproduced only when the effects of lateral mixing play a significant role in the process of ventilation. The vertical structure and magnitude of the implied lateral diffusivity are, however, inconsistent with other observations. The numerical simulations are next extended to two-dimensions to allow for the presence of a pool of unventilated, re-circulated water within the anti-cyclonic, subtropical gyre. Comparison of the model with the observed transient tracer field in the lower thermocline shows consistency with conventional estimates of lateral mixing rates only when the diffusively ventilated "pool" region extends across the entire zonal domain of the gyre. In contrast, the transient tracer fields in the upper portion of the thermocline are best reproduced when the isopycnal surfaces are ventilated by advection directly from the surface mixed layer. The results obtained here are consistent with numerical simulations which reveal a prominent role for mesoscale eddies in the ventilation of the thermocline.This research was supported by Office of Naval Research AASERT contract number N00014-95-l-0824

Lagrangian ocean analysis: fundamentals and practices

Lagrangian analysis is a powerful way to analyse the output of ocean circulation models and other ocean velocity data such as from altimetry. In the Lagrangian approach, large sets of virtual particles are integrated within the three-dimensional, time-evolving velocity fields. Over several decades, a variety of tools and methods for this purpose have emerged. Here, we review the state of the art in the field of Lagrangian analysis of ocean velocity data, starting from a fundamental kinematic framework and with a focus on large-scale open ocean applications. Beyond the use of explicit velocity fields, we consider the influence of unresolved physics and dynamics on particle trajectories. We comprehensively list and discuss the tools currently available for tracking virtual particles. We then showcase some of the innovative applications of trajectory data, and conclude with some open questions and an outlook. The overall goal of this review paper is to reconcile some of the different techniques and methods in Lagrangian ocean analysis, while recognising the rich diversity of codes that have and continue to emerge, and the challenges of the coming age of petascale computing

Temporal evolution of tritium-³e age in the North Atlantic : implications for thermocline ventilation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-280).by Paul E. Robbins.Ph.D

Tidal Energy and Coastal Models: Improved Turbine Simulation

Marine renewable energy is a continually growing topic of both commercial and academic research sectors. While not as developed as other renewable technologies such as those deployed within the wind sector, there is substantial technological crossover coupled with the inherent high energy density of water, that has helped push marine renewables into the wider renewable agenda. Thus, an ever expanding range of projects are in various stages of development.As with all technological developments, there are a range of factors that can con-tribute to the rate of development or eventual success. One of the main difficulties, when looking at marine renewable technologies in a comparative view to other en-ergy generation technologies, is that the operational environment is physically more complex: Energy must be supplied in diverse physical conditions, that temporally fluctuate with a range of time scales. The constant questions to the iteration to the local ecology. The increased operational fatigue of deployed devices. The financial risk associated within a recent sector.This work presents the continual research related to the computational research development of different marine renewable technologies that were under develop-ment of several institutional bodies at the time of writing this document.The scope has a wide envelopment as the nature of novel projects means that the project failure rate is high. Thus, forced through a combination of reasons related to financial, useful purpose and intellectual property, the research covers distinct projects

Towards a 3D hydrodynamic characterization from the joint analysis and blending of multiplatform observations for potential marine applications in the southeastern Bay of Biscay

277 p.La necesidad de un mayor conocimiento y una gestión sostenible de las áreas costeras ha suscitado la instalación de observatorios que monitorizan su estado. A pesar de que la información aportada por estos observatorios es esencial la compleja hidrodinámica de estas áreas dificulta una completa caracterización de las mismas. Además, la cobertura espacial de las observaciones es, en general, relativamente escasa especialmente en la columna de agua. Por tanto, el objetivo de esta tesis es combinar los datos disponibles de diferentes plataformas de observación en el sureste del Golfo de Bizkaia proporcionados por el sistema de oceanografía operacional de la costa vasca (EuskOOS) y también por fuentes externas para caracterizar en 3D la hidrodinámica de la zona. Para ello se han analizado conjuntamente las diferentes observaciones disponibles y se han utilizado métodos de reconstrucción de datos que permiten expandir dichas observaciones en 3D. Las observaciones conjuntas permiten detectar los principales procesos hidrodinámicos como los remolinos o la corriente de talud. Por otro lado, se observa que el usode los métodos de reconstrucción evaluados es factible en el área, especialmente el de la interpolación óptima de orden reducido (ROOI). Las observaciones y las corrientes reconstruidas por el ROOI han permitido caracterizar un remolino en 3D en el área de estudio por primera vez. Además, los campos de corrientes reconstruidos han posibilitado simular la advección superficial y subsuperficial de huevos y larvas de anchoa en la zona, mostrando el potencial del ROOI para aplicaciones marinas

Earth resources: A continuing bibliography with indexes (issue 58)

This bibliography lists 500 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between April 1 and June 30, 1988. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis