Measuring Ocean Turbulence Using Gliders
Understanding ocean turbulence is central to our understanding of how oceans work. Turbulence provides a mechanism for dissipating the energy of the circulation, as well as cascading momentum from the large scales on which the ocean is forced to the small scales on which the ocean is dissipated. It also serves a means by which stuff in the ocean such as heat, salt and nutrients are irreversibly mixed. Locally, turbulent mixing controls the mixed layer nutrient budget, heat content, and sea surface temperature. Globally, it controls the sequestration of carbon in the deep ocean and the ocean’s overturning circulation. Thus, turbulence in the ocean is important both to local ecosystems and global climate. Unfortunately, measuring ocean turbulence is challenging for a number of reasons. Turbulence-sensing instruments must be small and able to sample with a high sensitivity at high frequency. Further, because ocean turbulence (and turbulence in general) tends to be intermittent, we require a significant number of observations to robustly characterize its statistics.
Making so-called microstructure measurements of turbulence from autonomous ocean observing platforms is an exciting recent technological advance that holds great promise for revolutionizing our understanding of ocean turbulence. Since 2015, our group has used an Ocean Microstructure-equipped Glider (OMG), an autonomous, self-propelled robotic platform that carries miniaturized sensors to measure properties of ocean physics, biology and chemistry, including direct measures of turbulence intensity. To date, we have successfully deployed the instrument on all of Canada’s three coasts, including the Arctic Ocean, a place where ocean turbulence measurements are extremely rare. We use the data collected from these OMG deployments to gain new insights into turbulent mixing rates and mechanisms, with a specific focus on the space-time geography and underpinning mechanisms of turbulent dissipation and mixing. Further, we work with other groups worldwide to contribute to pioneering the analysis and interpretation of microstructure data from the glider platform, a technique still in its infancy.
Making so-called microstructure measurements of turbulence from autonomous ocean observing platforms is an exciting recent technological advance that holds great promise for revolutionizing our understanding of ocean turbulence. Since 2015, our group has used an Ocean Microstructure-equipped Glider (OMG), an autonomous, self-propelled robotic platform that carries miniaturized sensors to measure properties of ocean physics, biology and chemistry, including direct measures of turbulence intensity. To date, we have successfully deployed the instrument on all of Canada’s three coasts, including the Arctic Ocean, a place where ocean turbulence measurements are extremely rare. We use the data collected from these OMG deployments to gain new insights into turbulent mixing rates and mechanisms, with a specific focus on the space-time geography and underpinning mechanisms of turbulent dissipation and mixing. Further, we work with other groups worldwide to contribute to pioneering the analysis and interpretation of microstructure data from the glider platform, a technique still in its infancy.
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