[GTP] MMM/GTP seminarat NCAR November 11

[Silvia Gentile]

Modeling the Bubbly Ocean
Jun-Hong Liang
University of California – Los Angeles
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Los Angeles, CA

Gas bubbles are ubiquitous in the surface ocean boundary layer (OBL). 
After their injection by breaking surface gravity waves, gas bubbles are 
transported by turbulent water flows, rise by buoyancy, change size, and 
exchange gases with the ambient water. They modify the acoustical and 
optical properties of the upper ocean, enhance upper ocean 
stratification, and provide an important pathway for gas exchange 
between the atmosphere and the ocean. I will present a coupled 
OBL-Bubble-Dissolved-Gas model that resolves the bubble behavior and 
bubble impacts on upper ocean dynamics and dissolved gases. The model is 
used to simulate bubbles and dissolved gases (1) for a bubble cloud in 
an idealized down welling current, (2) for an individual breaking wave 
in a laboratory flume, and (3) in a turbulent OBL with breaking waves. 
As a result of bubble injection and evolution, the gas exchange rate is 
elevated, and the equilibrium gas saturation level is enhanced.

Thursday, 11 November 2010, 3:30 PM
Refreshments 3:15 PM
NCAR-Foothills Laboratory
3450 Mitchell Lane
Bldg 2 Auditorium, Room 1022

-- 
Silvia Gentile
NCAR IMAGe
1850 Table Mesa Drive
Boulder, CO 803035
www.image.ucar.edu