This proposal ("Numerical Modeling of Motional Induction in the Ocean") supports a collaboration between the PI, Thomas Sanford and a postdoc, Robert Tyler, from the University of Washington in a cooperative research project with Josef Oberhuber at the Center for Climate Research in Hamburg, Germany. The research will create the first general three-dimensional time-dependent model capable of calculating the general global ocean-generated electromagnetic fields. The model will be developed by extending a sophisticated model already developed by Oberhuber's group. Simulations will study the non-local and transient ocean-generated electromagnetic fields, which will help with interpreting current data on ocean flows; study the global electromagnetic fields generated by ocean tides; use the model to describe the variability and distribution of magnetic fields generated by low-frequency ocean variability; and use the model to assess the potential for using satellite magnetic surveys to monitor ocean variability.
