Deep Convection in the Labrador Sea: Moorings, Hydrography and Laboratory Simulations
1998
Rhines, Peter B
We are pursuing the physics of oceanic deep convection, its organization into mesoscale eddy structures, and its interaction with basin-scale circulation. This will lead to an improved understanding of the upper ocean, whose properties change so rapidly with time. This fine-scale oceanic turbulence is also important to larger scale circulations and the mixing of water masses. Our objective is to study convection and its context: the physics of wintertime breakdown of the upper oceanic thermocline/halocline, the development of convection to great depth, and its horizontal interactions. These interactions include the spawning of mesoscale eddies, mixing between deeply convected water and its stratified surroundings, interaction with the continental shelf and its water masses, and interaction with intense boundary currents. We want to bring together models and observational data relating to ocean convection by participating in ocean field experiments and by pursuing laboratory simulations and numerical models of thermodynamically active fluid circulations. The high latitude oceans are filled with special dynamical features: severe winds and cooling by the atmosphere; abundant sources of surface freshwater; partial ice-cover; and the inflow of warm, saline water masses from the subtropics.
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