1,176 research outputs found
Vertical kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation in the ocean
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 7639â7647, doi:10.1002/2015GL065043.Oceanic internal waves are closely linked to turbulence. Here a relationship between vertical wave number (kz) spectra of fine-scale vertical kinetic energy (VKE) and turbulent dissipation Δ is presented using more than 250 joint profiles from five diverse dynamic regimes, spanning latitudes between the equator and 60°. In the majority of the spectra VKE varies as inline image. Scaling VKE with inline image collapses the off-equatorial spectra to within inline image but underestimates the equatorial spectrum. The simple empirical relationship between VKE and Δ fits the data better than a common shear-and-strain fine-scale parameterization, which significantly underestimates Δ in the two data sets that are least consistent with the Garrett-Munk (GM) model. The new relationship between fine-scale VKE and dissipation rate can be interpreted as an alternative, single-parameter scaling for turbulent dissipation in terms of fine-scale internal wave vertical velocity that requires no reference to the GM model spectrum.National Science Foundation Grant Numbers: OCE-0728766, OCE-0425361, OCE-0424953, OCE-1029722, OCE-0622630, OCE-1030309, OCE-1232962, and Office of Naval Research Grant Number: N00014-10-1031
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: gas streaming and dynamical M/L in rotationally supported systems
Line-of-sight velocities of gas and stars can constrain dark matter (DM) within rotationally supported galaxies if they trace circular orbits extensively. Photometric asymmetries may signify non-circular motions, requiring spectra with dense spatial coverage. Our integral-field spectroscopy of 178 galaxies spanned the mass range of the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We derived circular speed curves (CSCs) of gas and stars from non-parametric Diskfit fits out to . For 12/14 with measured H I profiles, ionized gas and H I maximum velocities agreed. We fitted mass-follows-light models to 163 galaxies by approximating the radial starlight profile as nested, very flattened mass homeoids viewed as a S\'ersic form. Fitting broad-band SEDs to SDSS images gave median stellar mass/light 1.7 assuming a Kroupa IMF vs. 2.6 dynamically. Two-thirds of the dynamical mass/light measures were consistent with star+remnant IMFs. One-fifth required upscaled starlight to fit, hence comparable mass of unobserved baryons and/or DM distributed similarly across the SAMI aperture that came to dominate motions as the starlight CSC declined rapidly. The rest had mass distributed differently from starlight. Subtracting fits of S\'ersic profiles to 13 VIKING Z-band images revealed residual weak bars. Near the bar PA, we assessed m = 2 streaming velocities, and found deviations usually <30 km/s from the CSC; three showed no deviation. Thus, asymmetries rarely influenced our CSCs despite co-located shock-indicating, emission-line flux ratios in more than 2/3
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gas Streaming and Dynamical M/L in Rotationally Supported Systems
Line-of-sight velocities of gas and stars can constrain dark matter (DM)
within rotationally supported galaxies if they trace circular orbits
extensively. Photometric asymmetries may signify non-circular motions,
requiring spectra with dense spatial coverage. Our integral-field spectroscopy
of 178 galaxies spanned the mass range of the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We derived
circular speed curves (CSCs) of gas and stars from non-parametric Diskfit fits
out to . For 12/14 with measured H I profiles, ionized gas and H I
maximum velocities agreed. We fitted mass-follows-light models to 163 galaxies
by approximating the radial starlight profile as nested, very flattened mass
homeoids viewed as a S\'ersic form. Fitting broad-band SEDs to SDSS images gave
median stellar mass/light 1.7 assuming a Kroupa IMF vs. 2.6 dynamically.
Two-thirds of the dynamical mass/light measures were consistent with
star+remnant IMFs. One-fifth required upscaled starlight to fit, hence
comparable mass of unobserved baryons and/or DM distributed similarly across
the SAMI aperture that came to dominate motions as the starlight CSC declined
rapidly. The rest had mass distributed differently from starlight. Subtracting
fits of S\'ersic profiles to 13 VIKING Z-band images revealed residual weak
bars. Near the bar PA, we assessed m = 2 streaming velocities, and found
deviations usually <30 km/s from the CSC; three showed no deviation. Thus,
asymmetries rarely influenced our CSCs despite co-located shock-indicating,
emission-line flux ratios in more than 2/3.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to MNRA
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What Maintains the SST Front North of the Eastern Pacific Equatorial Cold Tongue?
A coupled oceanâatmosphere regional model suggests a mechanism for formation of a sharp sea surface temperature (SST) front north of the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean in boreal summer and fall. Meridional convergence of Ekman transport at 5°N is forced by eastward turning of the southeasterly cross-equatorial wind, but the SST front forms considerably south of the maximum Ekman convergence. Geostrophic equatorward flow at 3°N in the lower half of the isothermally mixed layer enhances mixed layer convergence.
Cold water is upwelled on or south of the equator and is advected poleward by mean mixed layer flow and by eddies. The mixed layer current convergence in the north confines the cold advection, so the SST front stays close to the equator. Warm advection from the north and cold advection from the south strengthen the front. In the Southern Hemisphere, a continuous southwestward current advects cold water far from the upwelling core.
The cold tongue is warmed by the net surface flux, which is dominated by solar radiation. Evaporation and net surface cooling are at a maximum just north of the SST front where relatively cool dry air is advected northward over warm SST. The surface heat flux is decomposed into a response to SST alone, and an atmospheric feedback. The atmospheric feedback enhances cooling on the north side of the front by 178 W mâ»ÂČ, about half of which is due to enhanced evaporation from cold dry advection, while the other half is due to cloud radiative forcing.Keywords: Heat flux, Ekman pumping, Convergence, Fronts, Sea surface temperatur
Two-phase galaxy evolution: the cosmic star formation histories of spheroids and discs
From two very simple axioms: (1) that active galactic nucleus activity traces spheroid formation, and (2) that the cosmic star formation history is dominated by spheroid formation at high redshift, we derive simple expressions for the star formation histories of spheroids and discs, and their implied metal enrichment histories.
Adopting a BaldryâGlazebrook initial mass function we use these relations and apply PEGASE.2 to predict the z = 0 cosmic spectral energy distributions (CSEDs) of spheroids and discs. The model predictions compare favourably to the dust-corrected CSED recently reported by the Galaxy And Mass Assembly team from the far-ultraviolet through to the K band. The model also provides a reasonable fit to the total stellar mass contained within spheroid and disc structures as recently reported by the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue team. Three interesting inferences can be made following our axioms: (1) there is a transition redshift at z â 1.7 at which point the Universe switches from what we refer to as âhot mode evolutionâ (i.e. spheroid formation/growth via mergers and/or collapse) to what we term âcold mode evolutionâ (i.e. disc formation/growth via gas infall and minor mergers); (2) there is little or no need for any pre-enrichment prior to the main phase of star formation; (3) in the present Universe mass loss is fairly evenly balanced with star formation holding the integrated stellar mass density close to a constant value.
The model provides a simple prediction of the energy output from spheroid and disc projenitors, the build-up of spheroid and disc mass and the mean metallicity enrichment of the Universe
Damping of tropical instability waves caused by the action of surface currents on stress
Ocean eddies and fronts affect surface stress via two mechanisms: (1) ocean surface currents altering the relative motion between air and sea and, hence, the stress fields and (2) ocean sea surface temperature (SST) gradients forcing changes in stability and near-surface winds. In this paper, we quantify the first effect and how it impacts Tropical Instability Waves (TIW) in the eastern Pacific. High-resolution satellite data and a regional coupled model are used to distinguish between stress changes due to the surface currents and those due to the changes in stability and near-surface winds. It is found that both mechanisms affect the surface stress curl, but they do so at different latitudes, allowing for their effect on Ekman pumping to be distinguished. The Ekman pumping due to the surface current effect alone, leads to significant damping of the TIWs. In terms of the eddy kinetic energy, the inclusion of surface current in the stress leads to decay with an e-folding time comparable with the period of the TIWs. It is, thus, an important damping mechanism to be included in ocean and coupled ocean-atmosphere models
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A Regional OceanâAtmosphere Model for Eastern Pacific Climate: Toward Reducing Tropical Biases
The tropical Pacific Ocean is a climatically important region, home to El Niño and the Southern Oscillation. The simulation of its climate remains a challenge for global coupled oceanâatmosphere models, which suffer large biases especially in reproducing the observed meridional asymmetry across the equator in sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall. A basin ocean general circulation model is coupled with a full-physics regional atmospheric model to study eastern Pacific climate processes. The regional oceanâatmosphere model (ROAM) reproduces salient features of eastern Pacific climate, including a northward-displaced intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) collocated with a zonal band of high SST, a low-cloud deck in the southeastern tropical Pacific, the equatorial cold tongue, and its annual cycle. The simulated low-cloud deck experiences significant seasonal variations in vertical structure and cloudiness; cloud becomes decoupled and separated from the surface mixed layer by a stable layer in March when the ocean warms up, leading to a reduction in cloudiness. The interaction of low cloud and SST is an important internal feedback for the climatic asymmetry between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In an experiment where the cloud radiative effect is turned off, this climatic asymmetry weakens substantially, with the ITCZ migrating back and forth across the equator following the sun. In another experiment where tropical North Atlantic SST is lowered by 2°Câsay, in response to a slow-down of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation as during the Younger Dryasâthe equatorial Pacific SST decreases by up to 3°C in JanuaryâApril but changes much less in other seasons, resulting in a weakened equatorial annual cycle. The relatively high resolution (0.5°) of the ROAM enables it to capture mesoscale features, such as tropical instability waves, Central American gap winds, and a thermocline dome off Costa Rica. The implications for tropical biases and paleoclimate research are discussed.Keywords: Ocean models, Cloud radiative effects, Model evaluation, Pacific Ocean, Climate predictionKeywords: Ocean models, Cloud radiative effects, Model evaluation, Pacific Ocean, Climate predictio
Short-term variability in euphotic zone biogeochemistry and primary productivity at Station ALOHA : a case study of summer 2012
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 29 (2015): 1145â1164, doi:10.1002/2015GB005141.Time-series observations are critical to understand the structure, function, and dynamics of marine ecosystems. The Hawaii Ocean Time-series program has maintained near-monthly sampling at Station ALOHA (22°45âČN, 158°00âČW) in the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) since 1988 and has identified ecosystem variability over seasonal to interannual timescales. To further extend the temporal resolution of these near-monthly time-series observations, an extensive field campaign was conducted during JulyâSeptember 2012 at Station ALOHA with near-daily sampling of upper water-column biogeochemistry, phytoplankton abundance, and activity. The resulting data set provided biogeochemical measurements at high temporal resolution and documents two important events at Station ALOHA: (1) a prolonged period of low productivity when net community production in the mixed layer shifted to a net heterotrophic state and (2) detection of a distinct sea-surface salinity minimum feature which was prominent in the upper water column (0â50 m) for a period of approximately 30 days. The shipboard observations during JulyâSeptember 2012 were supplemented with in situ measurements provided by Seagliders, profiling floats, and remote satellite observations that together revealed the extent of the low productivity and the sea-surface salinity minimum feature in the NPSG.NOAA Climate Observation Division; National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) Grant Numbers: EF0424599, OCE-1153656, OCE-1260164; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Marine Microbiology Investigator2016-02-1
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the link between angular momentum and optical morphology
We investigate the relationship between stellar and gas specific angular momentum j, stellar mass M-* and optical morphology for a sample of 488 galaxies extracted from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field Galaxy Survey. We find that j, measured within one effective radius, monotonically increases with M-* and that, for M-* > 10(9.5) M-aS (TM), the scatter in this relation strongly correlates with optical morphology (i.e. visual classification and S,rsic index). These findings confirm that massive galaxies of all types lie on a plane relating mass, angular momentum and stellar-light distribution, and suggest that the large-scale morphology of a galaxy is regulated by its mass and dynamical state. We show that the significant scatter in the M-*-j relation is accounted for by the fact that, at fixed stellar mass, the contribution of ordered motions to the dynamical support of galaxies varies by at least a factor of 3. Indeed, the stellar spin parameter (quantified via lambda(R)) correlates strongly with S,rsic and concentration indices. This correlation is particularly strong once slow rotators are removed from the sample, showing that late-type galaxies and early-type fast rotators form a continuous class of objects in terms of their kinematic properties
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