תאריך: 
ה', 06/06/202412:00-13:00
מיקום: 
חדר 102
מרצה: 
Vicky Verma
Abstract:
 
Surface currents play a critical role in transporting and dispersing buoyant pollutants, such as oil and plastics, and biogeochemicals throughout the ocean, significantly impacting the marine ecosystems. The Eastern Mediterranean (EMED) boundary current is an important constituent of the general circulation in the basin. Although a basin-scale feature, the boundary current is only tens of kilometers wide and a few hundred meters deep, making it challenging for a numerical model to resolve its dynamics adequately. In this presentation, we discuss a realistic regional model of the EMED, with nested grids, that resolves a wide range of motions, from basin scale down to submesoscale (100 m – 10 km), and enables a detailed investigation of the boundary current dynamics, including its seasonal variability, instabilities, and interplay with submesoscale motions. Seasonal changes in the boundary current will be discussed. The role of bottom drag in destabilizing the boundary current will be diagnosed, and the process of surface intensified anticyclonic eddy (i.e. spiral) formation will be elucidated. An eddy kinetic energy generation analysis reveals the instability mechanisms responsible for the spiral formation. Finally, the seasonal changes in the cross-shore transport by the boundary current and the spirals coupled with the seasonal interior submesoscale currents is shown to explain the observed spatial variability in the chlorophyll concentration offshore the Nile delta, highlighting the influence of submesoscale horizontal stirring on primary production in a nutrient deficient region
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