Deniz Aydin

Energy transfers in gravity plumes

An important portion of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is formed in north of the Greenland–Scotland ridge which then pass through the two deep passages: the Denmark Strait and the Faroe Bank Channel. Among them, Denmark Strait provides the largest component, therefore the transformation of the dense overflow along its path has an impact on the global climate system. However, due to their low resolutions, climate models cannot resolve the smaller scale processes associated with the mixing in dense overflows. Instead, they rely on parameterization which requires a substantial understanding of the dynamics involved. Hence for my project I will use a high resolution regional model to investigate the plume-eddy and plume-topography interactions along with the role of internal waves in mixing for the Denmark Strait overflow case. The model configuration will be improved based on comparisons of results with the observations. Furthermore, by performing simulations with different resolutions, I will analyze the effect of coarser grid models on the representation of small-scale dynamics. Findings of this study will serve the improvement of the climate models.

My PhD project is a part of the interdisciplinary project  “TRR181 Energy Transfers in Atmosphere and Ocean" which aims at developing energetically consistent mathematical models and thus enhancing climate analyzes and forecast accuracy.