Kinetic Energy Conversion in A Wind-forced Submesoscale Flow

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Li ◽  
Nuno Serra ◽  
Detlef Stammer
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Cyclonic Eddy ◽  
Major Fraction ◽  
High K ◽  
Eddy Field ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

<p>Despite recent progress in measuring the ocean eddy field with satellite missions at the mesoscale (order of 100 km), containing the major fraction of ocean kinetic energy, many questions still remain regarding the generation, conversion and dissipation mechanisms of eddy kinetic energy (K<sub>e</sub>). In this work, we use the output from an idealized 500-m resolution ocean numerical simulation to study the conversion of K<sub>e</sub> in the absence and presence of wind stress forcing. In contrast to the result of the unforced run, K<sub>e</sub> increased approximately nine times in the mixed layer and considerably in the pycnocline in the forced run. Eddies and filaments were seen to re-stratify the mixed layer and wind-induced turbulence at the base of the mixed layer promoted its deepening and therefore dramatically enhanced the exchange between K<sub>e</sub> and eddy available potential energy (P<sub>e</sub>). The wind stress forcing additionally affected the conversion processes between P<sub>e</sub> and mean kinetic energy (K<sub>m</sub>). The wind also excited inertial and superinertial motions throughout almost the whole water column. Although those motions played a major role in the conversion between P<sub>e</sub> and K<sub>e</sub>, the net effect by inertial and superinertial flows was almost null. In addition, we found an asymmetric character in kinetic energy conversion in eddies. Cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies showed different behaviour regarding conversion from P<sub>e</sub> and K<sub>e</sub>, which was positive on the high K<sub>e</sub> part in the anti-cyclonic eddy but negative in the cyclonic eddy.</p>

scholarly journals Numerical simulation and decomposition of kinetic energy in the Central Mediterranean: insight on mesoscale circulation and energy conversion

Ocean Science ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sorgente ◽  
A. Olita ◽  
P. Oddo ◽  
L. Fazioli ◽  
A. Ribotti
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Baroclinic Energy Conversion ◽  
Sicily Channel ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

Abstract. The spatial and temporal variability of eddy and mean kinetic energy of the Central Mediterranean region has been investigated, from January 2008 to December 2010, by mean of a numerical simulation mainly to quantify the mesoscale dynamics and their relationships with physical forcing. In order to understand the energy redistribution processes, the baroclinic energy conversion has been analysed, suggesting hypotheses about the drivers of the mesoscale activity in this area. The ocean model used is based on the Princeton Ocean Model implemented at 1/32° horizontal resolution. Surface momentum and buoyancy fluxes are interactively computed by mean of standard bulk formulae using predicted model Sea Surface Temperature and atmospheric variables provided by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast operational analyses. At its lateral boundaries the model is one-way nested within the Mediterranean Forecasting System operational products. The model domain has been subdivided in four sub-regions: Sardinia channel and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Sicily channel, eastern Tunisian shelf and Libyan Sea. Temporal evolution of eddy and mean kinetic energy has been analysed, on each of the four sub-regions, showing different behaviours. On annual scales and within the first 5 m depth, the eddy kinetic energy represents approximately the 60 % of the total kinetic energy over the whole domain, confirming the strong mesoscale nature of the surface current flows in this area. The analyses show that the model well reproduces the path and the temporal behaviour of the main known sub-basin circulation features. New mesoscale structures have been also identified, from numerical results and direct observations, for the first time as the Pantelleria Vortex and the Medina Gyre. The classical kinetic energy decomposition (eddy and mean) allowed to depict and to quantify the permanent and fluctuating parts of the circulation in the region, and to differentiate the four sub-regions as function of relative and absolute strength of the mesoscale activity. Furthermore the Baroclinic Energy Conversion term shows that in the Sardinia Channel the mesoscale activity, due to baroclinic instabilities, is significantly larger than in the other sub-regions, while a negative sign of the energy conversion, meaning a transfer of energy from the Eddy Kinetic Energy to the Eddy Available Potential Energy, has been recorded only for the surface layers of the Sicily Channel during summer.

scholarly journals Numerical simulation and decomposition of kinetic energies in the Central Mediterranean Sea: insight on mesoscale circulation and energy conversion

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1161-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sorgente ◽  
A. Olita ◽  
P. Oddo ◽  
L. Fazioli ◽  
A. Ribotti
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Central Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Baroclinic Energy Conversion ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

Abstract. The spatial and temporal variability of eddy and mean kinetic energy of the Central Mediterranean Sea has been investigated, from January 2008 to December 2010, by mean of a numerical simulation mainly to quantify the mesoscale dynamics and their relationships with physical forcing. In order to understand the energy redistribution processes, the baroclinic energy conversion has been analysed, suggesting hypotheses about the drivers of the mesoscale activity in this area. The ocean model used is based on the Princeton Ocean Model implemented at 1/32° horizontal resolution. Surface momentum and buoyancy fluxes are interactively computed by mean of standard bulk formulae using predicted model Sea Surface Temperature and atmospheric variables provided by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast operational analyses. At its lateral boundaries the model is one-way nested within the Mediterranean Forecasting System operational products. The model domain has been subdivided in four sub-regions: Sardinia channel and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Sicily channel, eastern Tunisian shelf and Libyan Sea. Temporal evolution of eddy and mean kinetic energy has been analysed, on each of the four sub-regions composing the model domain, showing different behaviours. On annual scales and within the first 5 m depth, the eddy kinetic energy represents approximately the 60 % of the total kinetic energy over the whole domain, confirming the strong mesoscale nature of the surface current flows in this area. The analyses show that the model well reproduces the path and the temporal behaviour of the main known sub-basin circulation features. New mesoscale structures have been also identified, from numerical results and direct observations, for the first time as the Pantelleria Vortex and the Medina Gyre. The classical the kinetic energy decomposition (eddy and mean) allowed to depict and to quantify the stable and fluctuating parts of the circulation in the region, and to differentiate the four sub-regions as function of relative and absolute strength of the mesoscale activity. Furthermore the Baroclinic Energy Conversion term shows that in the Sardinia Channel the mesoscale activity, due to baroclinic instabilities, is significantly larger than in the other sub-regions, while a negative sign of the energy conversion, meaning a transfer of energy from the Eddy Kinetic Energy to the Eddy Available Potential Energy, has been recorded only for the surface layers of the Sicily Channel during summer.

scholarly journals Topographic and Mixed Layer Submesoscale Currents in the Near-Surface Southwestern Tropical Pacific

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1221-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaushik Srinivasan ◽  
James C. McWilliams ◽  
Lionel Renault ◽  
Hristina G. Hristova ◽  
Jeroen Molemaker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Heat Flux ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Coral Sea

AbstractThe distribution and strength of submesoscale (SM) surface layer fronts and filaments generated through mixed layer baroclinic energy conversion and submesoscale coherent vortices (SCVs) generated by topographic drag are analyzed in numerical simulations of the near-surface southwestern Pacific, north of 16°S. In the Coral Sea a strong seasonal cycle in the surface heat flux leads to a winter SM “soup” consisting of baroclinic mixed layer eddies (MLEs), fronts, and filaments similar to those seen in other regions farther away from the equator. However, a strong wind stress seasonal cycle, largely in sync with the surface heat flux cycle, is also a source of SM processes. SM restratification fluxes show distinctive signatures corresponding to both surface cooling and wind stress. The winter peak in SM activity in the Coral Sea is not in phase with the summer dominance of the mesoscale eddy kinetic energy in the region, implying that local surface layer forcing effects are more important for SM generation than the nonlocal eddy deformation field. In the topographically complex Solomon and Bismarck Seas, a combination of equatorial proximity and boundary drag generates SCVs with large-vorticity Rossby numbers (Ro ~ 10). River outflows in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas make a contribution to SM generation, although they are considerably weaker than the topographic effects. Mean to eddy kinetic energy conversions implicate barotropic instability in SM topographic wakes, with the strongest values seen north of the Vitiaz Strait along the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Energy Cascades and Loss of Balance in a Reentrant Channel Forced by Wind Stress and Buoyancy Fluxes

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 272-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Barkan ◽  
Kraig B. Winters ◽  
Stefan G. Llewellyn Smith
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Energy Cascade ◽  
Turbulence Theory ◽  
Inverse Energy Cascade ◽  
Loss Of Balance ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Eddy Field

AbstractA large fraction of the kinetic energy in the ocean is stored in the “quasigeostrophic” eddy field. This “balanced” eddy field is expected, according to geostrophic turbulence theory, to transfer energy to larger scales. In order for the general circulation to remain approximately steady, instability mechanisms leading to loss of balance (LOB) have been hypothesized to take place so that the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) may be transferred to small scales where it can be dissipated. This study examines the kinetic energy pathways in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of flow in a flat-bottomed reentrant channel, externally forced by surface buoyancy fluxes and wind stress in a configuration that resembles the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The flow is allowed to reach a statistical steady state at which point it exhibits both a forward and an inverse energy cascade. Flow interactions with irregular bathymetry are excluded so that bottom drag is the sole mechanism available to dissipate the upscale EKE transfer. The authors show that EKE is dissipated preferentially at small scales near the surface via frontal instabilities associated with LOB and a forward energy cascade rather than by bottom drag after an inverse energy cascade. This is true both with and without forcing by the wind. These results suggest that LOB caused by frontal instabilities near the ocean surface could provide an efficient mechanism, independent of boundary effects, by which EKE is dissipated. Ageostrophic anticyclonic instability is the dominant frontal instability mechanism in these simulations. Symmetric instability is also important in a “deep convection” region, where it can be sustained by buoyancy loss.

Interactions between Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillations and Synoptic-Scale Disturbances over the Western North Pacific. Part I: Energetics Diagnosis*

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 927-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pang-chi Hsu ◽  
Tim Li ◽  
Chih-Hua Tsou
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Intraseasonal Oscillation ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Synoptic Eddies ◽  
Barotropic Energy Conversion

Abstract The role of scale interactions in the maintenance of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) during the extreme phases of the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) is examined through the construction of a new eddy energetics diagnostic tool that separates the effects of ISO and a low-frequency background state (LFBS; with periods longer than 90 days). The LFBS always contributes positively toward the EKE in the boreal summer, regardless of the ISO phases. The synoptic eddies extract energy from the ISO during the ISO active phase. This positive barotropic energy conversion occurs when the synoptic eddies interact with low-level cyclonic and convergent–confluent ISO flows. This contrasts with the ISO suppressed phase during which the synoptic eddies lose kinetic energy to the ISO flow. The anticyclonic and divergent–diffluent ISO flows during the suppressed phase are responsible for the negative barotropic energy conversion. A positive (negative) EKE tendency occurs during the ISO suppressed-to-active (active-to-suppressed) transitional phase. The cause of this asymmetric EKE tendency is attributed to the spatial phase relation among the ISO vorticity, eddy structure, and EKE. The southwest–northeast-tilted synoptic disturbances interacting with cyclonic (anticyclonic) vorticity of ISO lead to a positive (negative) EKE tendency in the northwest region of the maximum EKE center. The genesis number and location and intensification rate of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific are closely related to the barotropic energy conversion. The enhanced barotropic energy conversion favors the generation and development of synoptic seed disturbances, some of which eventually grow into tropical cyclones.

Study of the Mechanisms of Vortex Variability in the Lofoten Basin Based on the Energy Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. S. Travkin ◽  
◽  
T. V. Belonenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Barotropic Instability ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Conversion Rates ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

Purpose. The Lofoten Basin is one of the most energetic zones of the World Ocean characterized by high activity of mesoscale eddies. The study is aimed at analyzing different components of general energy in the basin, namely the mean kinetic and vortex kinetic energy calculated using the integral of the volume of available potential and kinetic energy of the Lofoten Vortex, as well as variability of these characteristics. Methods and Results. GLORYS12V1 reanalysis data for the period 2010–2018 were used. The mean kinetic energy and the eddy kinetic one were analyzed; and as for the Lofoten Vortex, its volume available potential and kinetic energy were studied. The mesoscale activity of eddies in winter is higher than in summer. Evolution of the available potential energy and kinetic energy of the Lofoten Vortex up to the 1000 m horizon was studied. It is shown that the vortex available potential energy exceeds the kinetic one by an order of magnitude, and there is a positive trend with the coefficient 0,23⋅1015 J/year. It was found that in the Lofoten Basin, the intermediate layer from 600 to 900 m made the largest contribution to the potential energy, whereas the 0–400 m layer – to kinetic energy. The conversion rates of the mean kinetic energy into the vortex kinetic one and the mean available potential energy into the vortex available potential one (barotropic and baroclinic instability) were analyzed. It is shown that the first type of transformation dominates in summer, while the second one is characterized by its increase in winter. Conclusions. The vertical profile shows that the kinetic energy of eddies in winter is higher than in summer. The available potential energy of a vortex is by an order of magnitude greater than the kinetic energy. An increase in the available potential energy is confirmed by a significant positive trend and by a decrease in the vortex Burger number. The graphs of the barotropic instability conversion rate demonstrate the multidirectional flows in the vortex zone with the dipole structure observed in a winter period, and the tripole one – in summer. The barotropic instability highest intensity is observed in summer. The baroclinic instability is characterized by intensification of the regime in winter that is associated with weakening of stratification in this period owing to winter convection.

Relation Between Flow Velocity and Impact Pressure in a Green Water Flow

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kusalika Ariyarathne ◽  
Kuang-An Chang ◽  
Richard Mercier
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Void Fraction ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Impact Pressure ◽  
Breaking Wave ◽  
Wave Condition ◽  
Wall Impingement ◽  
Impact Coefficient ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mean Kinetic Energy

Impact pressure due to plunging breaking waves impinging on a simplified model structure was investigated in the laboratory based on two breaking wave conditions: the wall impingement wave condition and the deck impingement wave condition. Pressure, void fraction, and velocities were measured at various locations on the deck surface. Impact pressure was correlated with the mean kinetic energy calculated based on the measured mean velocities and void fraction to obtain the impact coefficient. For the wall impingement wave condition, the relationship between impact pressure and mean kinetic energy is linear with the impact coefficient close to unity. For the deck impingement wave condition, the above relationship does not show good correlation, whereas the impact coefficient was found to be a function of the rate of pressure rise.

Hydraulic Kinetic Energy Conversion (HKEC) Systems

1990 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaro J. Vocadlo ◽  
Brian Richards ◽  
Michael King
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion

Coherent Velocity Structures in the Mixed Layer: Characteristics, Energetics, and Turbulent Kinetic Energy Budget

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Jarosz ◽  
Hemantha W. Wijesekera ◽  
David W. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Vertical Transport ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Production Term ◽  
Forcing Mechanisms ◽  
Surface Buoyancy

AbstractVelocity, hydrographic, and microstructure observations collected under moderate to high winds, large surface waves, and significant ocean-surface heat losses were utilized to examine coherent velocity structures (CVS) and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget in the mixed layer on the outer shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico in February 2017. The CVS exhibited larger downward velocities in downweling regions and weaker upward velocities in broader upwelling regions, elevated vertical velocity variance, vertical velocity maxima in the upper part of the mixed layer, and phasing of crosswind velocities relative to vertical velocities near the base of the mixed layer. Temporal scales ranged from 10 min to 40 min and estimated lateral scales ranged from 90 m to 430 m, which were 1.5 – 6 times larger than the mixed layer depth. Nondimensional parameters, Langmuir and Hoenikker numbers, indicated that plausible forcing mechanisms were surface-wave driven Langmuir vortex and destabilizing surface buoyancy flux. The rate of change of TKE, shear production, Stokes production, buoyancy production, vertical transport of TKE, and dissipation in the TKE budget were evaluated. The shear and Stokes productions, dissipation, and vertical transport of TKE were the dominant terms. The buoyancy production term was important at the sea surface, but it decreased rapidly in the interior. A large imbalance term was found under the unstable, high wind, and high-sea state conditions. The cause of this imbalance cannot be determined with certainty through analyses of the available observations; however, our speculation is that the pressure transport is significant under these conditions.

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