Stratified Turbulence : Climate’s Mysterious Mixer
Statically stable density stratification is ubiquitous in geophysical flows, and due to the buoyancy force, such statically stable density distributions typically suppress vertical motions. Such inevitable anisotropy complicates even further developing an understanding of stratified turbulence. This is not `just’ an interesting research challenge in classical physics, since stratified turbulence actually plays a leading order role in the transport of heat and other scalars (such as carbon dioxide) in the world’s oceans and atmosphere. Indeed, stratified turbulent mixing is a central (and still highly controversial) component of the (rapidly changing) global climate system. In this talk, I will review some recent studies by my collaborators that have advanced our understanding of various key properties of stratified turbulence and mixing, while also demonstrating that there is still much more to learn about this fascinating and vitally important class of fluid flows.
Contact Nathanaël Machicoane for more information or to schedule a discussion with the seminar speaker.