DCC-CR and CMCC Seminar
29 July at 11:00 CEST
IN PERSON: University of Bologna Geophysics Library Viale Berti Pichat 8 or ONLINE
Speaker:
Prof. William R. Young, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, CA (US)
Abstract:
Over 35 years ago the Ocean Storms Experiment (OSE) in the Northeast Pacific observed the generation of near-inertial waves (NIWs) by a storm. Consistent with refraction resulting from the beta-effect, NIWs propagated downwards and towards the equator. Mesoscale vorticity gradients, which exceed beta by a factor of ten, did not have a significant effect on NIW propagation.
In 2019 the NISKINe field program in North Atlantic also observed the stormy generation and subsequent propagation of NIWs. In the NISKINe observations NIW propagation is strongly affected by mesoscale vorticity gradients and ignores beta. Using NIW-mean flow interaction theory I show that these differences are largely explained by differences between the ocean stratification at the OSE site versus that of NISKINe: during OSE wind energy was injected mainly into low vertical modes while at NISKINe NIW energy was broadly distributed into high vertical modes.
The seminar will be held both online and in person:
ORGANIZED BY
CMCC Foundation
University of Bologna
UN Decade Collaborative Centre FOR COASTAL RESILIENCE
United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development