Stephanie Waterman
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 Southern Ocean Dynamics - Eddy Stirring
Picture
The Southern Ocean is a global hotspot of turbulent eddy activity, and Southern Ocean dynamics and their role in the global climate system are critically dependent on the magnitude, distribution and mechanism of stirring and mixing by mesoscale eddy motions. An acute weakness in our present understanding of these dynamics relates to the mechanisms of eddy mixing and how to represent this climatically vital process in coarse resolution ocean and climate prediction models.

Initiated by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award in 2012-2015, we have worked on developing a process-based understanding of eddy mixing in the Southern Ocean, in particular in the vicinity of jet-topography interactions where the intensity of eddy mixing has been observed to be enhanced. Our research involves both theoretical studies of eddy processes in an idealized model, as well as studies of the phenomenon in observations of the Southern Ocean circulation. It is revealing insights that have important implications for the representation of eddy mixing in models, suggesting a more sophisticated approach involving metrics related to the dominant jet instability mechanisms in operation may lead to more accurate models of eddy mixing in these regions. 

People:
  • Jean-Loup Hannebicq
  • Alice Barthel
  • Anna Conchon
  • Andy Hogg (Australian National University)
  • Shane Keating (University of New South Wales)
  • Helen Phillips (University of Tasmania)
  • Alberto Naveira Garabato (National Oceanographic Institution - Southampton)
  • Kurt Polzin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
  • Erik van Sebille (Utrecht University)

Select papers & Presentations:

  • A presentation by Helen Phillips on eddy stirring suppression in Antarctic Circumpolar Current jets presented at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland USA. 
  • A presentation by Ph.D. student Alice Barthel on the topographic control of Southern Ocean upwelling presented at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland USA. 
  • A paper led by Ph.D. student Alice Barthel on how jet-topography interactions affect energy pathways to the deep Southern Ocean published in the Journal of Physical Oceanography in 2017. 
  • The 2017 Ph.D. thesis of Alice Barthel “Southern Ocean Jet-Topography Interactions and their Impact on Eddy Fluxes” 
  • A paper led by Erik van Sebille about surface drifter dispersion in the vicinity of the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Front published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans in 2015.