Related papers: Abyssal Slope Currents
An aquaplanet model is used to study the nature of the highly persistent low frequency waves that have been observed in models forced by zonally symmetric boundary conditions. Using the Hayashi spectral analysis of the extratropical waves,…
To close the overturning circulation, dense bottom water must upwell via turbulent mixing. Recent studies have identified thin bottom boundary layers (BLs) as locations of intense upwelling, yet it remains unclear how they interact with and…
Subpolar frontal zones are characterized by energetic storms, intense seasonal cycles, and close connectivity with surrounding continental shelf topography. At the same time, predicting the ocean state depends on appropriate partition of…
Data from Direct Numerical Simulations of disperse bubbly flows in a vertical channel are used to study the effect of the bubbles on the carrier-phase turbulence. A new method is developed, based on the barycentric map approach, that allows…
Over the last two decades, both experiments and simulations have demonstrated that transverse wall oscillations with properly selected amplitude and frequency can reduce turbulent drag by as much as 40%. In this paper, we develop a…
Eddy saturation describes the nonlinear mechanism in geophysical flows whereby, when average conditions are considered, direct forcing of the zonal flow increases the eddy kinetic energy, while the energy associated with the zonal flow does…
Compressible flows around blunt objects have diverse applications, but current analytic treatments are inaccurate and limited to narrow parameter regimes. We show that the gas-dynamic flow in front of an axisymmetric blunt body is…
The two-layer quasigeostrophic model (2LQG) and the Eady model are two idealized systems illustrating the baroclinic instability of atmospheric jets and ocean currents. The two setups share many ingredients -- background vertically sheared…
Oceanic turbulence influences the transport and mixing of freshwater, heat, nutrients, and other biogeochemical tracers. It also has broader implications for oceanic and atmospheric circulations. Tides contribute substantially to the…
Zonal winds on Jovian planets play an important role in governing the cloud dynamics, transport of momentum, scalars, and weather patterns. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the evolution of the zonal flows and their sustainability.…
We examine the role of anisotropic subgrid-scale (SGS) stress in wall-modeled large-eddy simulation (WMLES) of flow over a spanwise-uniform Gaussian-shaped bump, with emphasis on predicting flow separation. The simulations show that…
Symmetry-based analyses of multiscale velocity gradients highlight that strain self-amplification (SS) and vortex stretching (VS) drive forward energy transfer in turbulent flows. By contrast, a strain-vorticity covariance mechanism…
Randomly-forced fluid flow in the presence of scale-unselective dissipation develops mean currents following topographic contours. Known mechanisms based on the scale-selective action of damping processes are not at work in this situation.…
We tackle the question of how anisotropy in flows subject to background rotation favours structures elongated along the rotation axis, especially in turbulent flows. A new, wave-free mechanism is identified that challenges the current…
Non-stationarity is the rule in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Under such conditions, the flow may experience departures from equilibrium with the underlying surface stress, misalignment of shear stresses and strain rates, and…
Numerical and observational evidence indicates that, in regions where mixed-layer instability is active, the surface geostrophic velocity is largely induced by surface buoyancy anomalies. Yet, in these regions, the observed surface kinetic…
Turbulent water motions are important for the exchange of momentum, heat, nutrients, and suspended matter including sediments in the deep-sea that is generally stably stratified in density. To maintain ocean-density stratification, an…
The eddy-driven jet stream and storm tracks in the mid-latitude atmosphere are known to shift in latitude on various timescales, but the physical processes that cause these shifts are still unclear. In this study, we introduce a minimal…
We investigate eddy-viscosity distributions in pressure-driven wall turbulence for three canonical configurations: plane closed-channel flow, open-channel flow with a free-slip surface, and pipe flow. Using direct numerical simulation (DNS)…
"Eddy saturation" refers to a regime in which the total volume transport of an oceanic current is insensitive to the wind stress strength. Baroclinicity is currently believed to be key to the development of an eddy-saturated state. In this…