In this project, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow aims to develop a process-based understanding of the physical and biological dynamics that control primary and export production in the ocean. The focus of the research is on the physical and biological dynamics in submesoscale fronts and eddies and, in particular, on the effects of realistic high-frequency winds on these dynamics. Improved understanding of these dynamics will contribute to a better understanding of the global carbon cycle. This project builds a truly intellectual and cross-disciplinary collaboration between the fellow and sponsoring scientists, John Taylor, University of Cambridge, and Marina Levy, University Pierre et Marie Curie. This award was supported with funding from the Office of International and Integrative Activities.
Every year, oceanic microbes convert about fifty Pg of inorganic carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) into organic carbon, accounting for about half of all primary production on the planet. This organic carbon then forms the trophic base of the entire marine ecosystem. Moreover, perhaps a quarter of the organic carbon created is exported to the deep ocean, where it may remain sequestered from the atmosphere for centuries. However, these biogeochemical dynamics are substantially modified by the heterogeneous physics of the upper ocean, which is characterized by a virtual spider web of fronts and eddies and regularly modified by persistent and variable atmospheric forcing. In global ocean and earth system models, these dynamics occur at scales smaller than a grid cell, therefore it is essential to understand and parameterize these dynamics. In pursuit of this effort, the fellow will use numerical models at multiple levels of complexity to explore three key questions: 1) How do realistic high-frequency winds affect primary and export production in ocean fronts and eddies? 2) What physical, biological and chemical mechanisms control the dynamics in these environments and how sensitive are the results to different parameters? 3) How do fronts and eddies modify biological community composition? This research will help lay the groundwork for improved parameterizations of upper ocean physics and biogeochemistry. Understanding and parameterizing these dynamics will enable more accurate global modeling of the earth system - past, present and future.
