Pierce
Stephen D.
Pierce
Stephen D.
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ArticleThe LatMix summer campaign : submesoscale stirring in the upper ocean(American Meteorological Society, 2015-08) Shcherbina, Andrey Y. ; Sundermeyer, Miles A. ; Kunze, Eric ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Badin, Gualtiero ; Birch, Daniel ; Brunner-Suzuki, Anne-Marie E. G. ; Callies, Joern ; Cervantes, Brandy T. Kuebel ; Claret, Mariona ; Concannon, Brian ; Early, Jeffrey ; Ferrari, Raffaele ; Goodman, Louis ; Harcourt, Ramsey R. ; Klymak, Jody M. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Lelong, M.-Pascale ; Levine, Murray D. ; Lien, Ren-Chieh ; Mahadevan, Amala ; McWilliams, James C. ; Molemaker, M. Jeroen ; Mukherjee, Sonaljit ; Nash, Jonathan D. ; Ozgokmen, Tamay M. ; Pierce, Stephen D. ; Ramachandran, Sanjiv ; Samelson, Roger M. ; Sanford, Thomas B. ; Shearman, R. Kipp ; Skyllingstad, Eric D. ; Smith, K. Shafer ; Tandon, Amit ; Taylor, John R. ; Terray, Eugene A. ; Thomas, Leif N. ; Ledwell, James R.Lateral stirring is a basic oceanographic phenomenon affecting the distribution of physical, chemical, and biological fields. Eddy stirring at scales on the order of 100 km (the mesoscale) is fairly well understood and explicitly represented in modern eddy-resolving numerical models of global ocean circulation. The same cannot be said for smaller-scale stirring processes. Here, the authors describe a major oceanographic field experiment aimed at observing and understanding the processes responsible for stirring at scales of 0.1–10 km. Stirring processes of varying intensity were studied in the Sargasso Sea eddy field approximately 250 km southeast of Cape Hatteras. Lateral variability of water-mass properties, the distribution of microscale turbulence, and the evolution of several patches of inert dye were studied with an array of shipboard, autonomous, and airborne instruments. Observations were made at two sites, characterized by weak and moderate background mesoscale straining, to contrast different regimes of lateral stirring. Analyses to date suggest that, in both cases, the lateral dispersion of natural and deliberately released tracers was O(1) m2 s–1 as found elsewhere, which is faster than might be expected from traditional shear dispersion by persistent mesoscale flow and linear internal waves. These findings point to the possible importance of kilometer-scale stirring by submesoscale eddies and nonlinear internal-wave processes or the need to modify the traditional shear-dispersion paradigm to include higher-order effects. A unique aspect of the Scalable Lateral Mixing and Coherent Turbulence (LatMix) field experiment is the combination of direct measurements of dye dispersion with the concurrent multiscale hydrographic and turbulence observations, enabling evaluation of the underlying mechanisms responsible for the observed dispersion at a new level.
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ArticleDispersion in the open ocean seasonal pycnocline at scales of 1-10 km and 1-6 days(American Meteorological Society, 2020-02-06) Sundermeyer, Miles A. ; Birch, Daniel ; Ledwell, James R. ; Levine, Murray D. ; Pierce, Stephen D. ; Cervantes, Brandy T. KuebelResults are presented from two dye release experiments conducted in the seasonal thermocline of the Sargasso Sea, one in a region of low horizontal strain rate (~10−6 s−1), the second in a region of intermediate horizontal strain rate (~10−5 s−1). Both experiments lasted ~6 days, covering spatial scales of 1–10 and 1–50 km for the low and intermediate strain rate regimes, respectively. Diapycnal diffusivities estimated from the two experiments were κz = (2–5) × 10−6 m2 s−1, while isopycnal diffusivities were κH = (0.2–3) m2 s−1, with the range in κH being less a reflection of site-to-site variability, and more due to uncertainties in the background strain rate acting on the patch combined with uncertain time dependence. The Site I (low strain) experiment exhibited minimal stretching, elongating to approximately 10 km over 6 days while maintaining a width of ~5 km, and with a notable vertical tilt in the meridional direction. By contrast, the Site II (intermediate strain) experiment exhibited significant stretching, elongating to more than 50 km in length and advecting more than 150 km while still maintaining a width of order 3–5 km. Early surveys from both experiments showed patchy distributions indicative of small-scale stirring at scales of order a few hundred meters. Later surveys show relatively smooth, coherent distributions with only occasional patchiness, suggestive of a diffusive rather than stirring process at the scales of the now larger patches. Together the two experiments provide important clues as to the rates and underlying processes driving diapycnal and isopycnal mixing at these scales.
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ArticleObservations and numerical simulations of large-eddy circulation in the ocean surface mixed layer(John Wiley & Sons, 2014-11-06) Sundermeyer, Miles A. ; Skyllingstad, Eric D. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Concannon, Brian ; Terray, Eugene A. ; Birch, Daniel ; Pierce, Stephen D. ; Cervantes, Brandy T. KuebelTwo near-surface dye releases were mapped on scales of minutes to hours temporally, meters to order 1 km horizontally, and 1–20 m vertically using a scanning, depth-resolving airborne lidar. In both cases, dye evolved into a series of rolls with their major axes approximately aligned with the wind and/or near-surface current. In both cases, roll spacing was also of order 5–10 times the mixed layer depth, considerably larger than the 1–2 aspect ratio expected for Langmuir cells. Numerical large-eddy simulations under similar forcing showed similar features, even without Stokes drift forcing. In one case, inertial shear driven by light winds induced large aspect ratio large-eddy circulation. In the second, a preexisting lateral mixed layer density gradient provided the dominant forcing. In both cases, the growth of the large-eddy structures and the strength of the resulting dispersion were highly dependent on the type of forcing.
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PreprintPhysical and biological variables affecting seabird distributions during the upwelling season of the northern California Current( 2004-08-28) Ainley, David G. ; Spear, Larry B. ; Tynan, Cynthia T. ; Barth, John A. ; Pierce, Stephen D. ; Ford, R. Glenn ; Cowles, Timothy J.As a part of the GLOBEC-Northeast Pacific project, we investigated variation in the abundance of marine birds in the context of biological and physical habitat conditions in the northern portion of the California Current System (CCS) during cruises during the upwelling season 2000. Continuous surveys of seabirds were conducted simultaneously in June (onset of upwelling) and August (mature phase of upwelling) with ocean properties quantified using a towed, undulating vehicle and a multi-frequency bioacoustic instrument (38-420 kHz). Twelve species of seabirds contributed 99% of the total community density and biomass. Species composition and densities were similar to those recorded elsewhere in the CCS during earlier studies of the upwelling season. At a scale of 2-4 km, physical and biological oceanographic variables explained an average of 25% of the variation in the distributions and abundance of the 12 species. The most important explanatory variables (among 14 initially included in each multiple regression model) were distance to upwelling-derived frontal features (center and edge of coastal jet, and an abrupt, inshore temperature gradient), sea-surface salinity, acoustic backscatter representing various sizes of prey (smaller seabird species were associated with smaller prey and the reverse for larger seabird species), and chlorophyll concentration. We discuss the importance of these variables in the context of what factors may be that seabirds use to find food. The high seabird density in the Heceta Bank and Cape Blanco areas indicate them to be refuges contrasting the low seabird densities currently found in most other parts of the CCS, following decline during the recent warm regime of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.