Research

Mixing hot spots in the Southern Ocean: processes, parameterisations and impacts

  • Research Theme
    Oceans & Cryosphere
  • Cross-disciplinary Theme(s)
    Climate Change; Ocean-Earth System
  • Funded By

    Australian Research Council
    From 2014 to 2016

  • Principal Investigator
  • Contributor(s)

  • Project Summary

    The Southern Ocean plays a critical role for the uptake of heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. This uptake depends strongly on mixing processes due to ocean eddies, which are especially important in regions of steep topography, leading to localised mixing hot spots. These ocean eddies have scales of 10-100km and therefore cannot be resolved in current global climate models. This study will examine these mixing processes using a combination of observations and innovative modelling approaches. This knowledge will be used to improve the representation of eddy processes in state-of-the-art climate models, which will ultimately allow Australia to more effectively respond to the challenge of climate change.

    Interested in this project?

Authorised by the Executive Director, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
1 October, 2019