Baroclinic Eddies and Dense Plumes

During Summer 2004, I was a Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. When I wasn't running along the ocean or making late night trips to the Food Buoy, I worked in the GFD lab with Claudia Cenedese. I got to play on the 2-m rotating table. I got very adept at running around in circles. I studied dense plumes in a rotating stratified fluid interactng with baroclinic eddies.

You can read my full report here.

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate behavior of a dense plume in a rotating
linearly stratified fluid in the presence of eddies created by a baroclinic unstable front. The purpose
of the experiments was to simulate the formation of Eighteen Degree Water to gain insight into the properties of this mode water. The vertical and lateral eddy buoyancy fluxes were estimated and their ratio, B/M, used to determine properties of the intrusion formed from the plume. The depth of the intrusion was found to be smaller in the presence of eddies from the baroclinic front. An effective buoyancy flux was defined that improved predictions of the depth of the intrusion as long as B/M > 1. Further analysis of the scaling for B and M is necessary before application to Eighteen Degree Water can be successfully made.

Comparison of the predictions of the intrusion depth using the standard buoyancy fux and the
effective buoyancy flux defined. The dashed line indicates the line of equality between the measured and predicted values. The data points with crosses indicate the points with no upwelling and hence B* = B. Note that the points along the x-axis are due where the effective buoyancy flux is not valid.