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Applied Physics Seminar: Scientific and computational challenges in global ocean modeling

Brian Arbic, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and Associate Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
12:00-1:00 PM
335 West Hall Map
Abstract: Global numerical ocean models are being used for a number of applications of scientific and societal interest, including global change prediction, sea level rise and coastal hazard prediction, fisheries management, and operational prediction for navies and shipping. Here, after briefly defining the field of physical oceanography, and the challenges involved in using ocean models run on supercomputers, we will discuss a proposed project, highly likely to be funded, that will be done in conjunction with scientists at the Department of Energy (DOE), in particular the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In this project, which includes funding to support a PhD student here at Michigan, we will insert tides into the DOE ocean model, the Model Prediction Across Scales (MPAS-Ocean) module. The MPAS-Ocean model uses an unstructured grid, which devotes higher resolution in coastal areas than in the open ocean. The main aim of the DOE project is predicting how sea level rise, changes in tides, and changes in storm intensity, will combine to alter flooding risk in cities over the next 50-100 years.The unstructured grid, and the exascale computing resources at DOE, will make this an ideal model for studying estuaries--the critical zones where rivers, which drain land, meet
the ocean. Indeed, this model is expected to be the first global model that resolves tidal and wind-driven flows from global to estuarine scales in a modeling environment that also includes stratification (the layering of oceanic
and coastal waters, due to density). As such, as an important side effect, we expect that the DOE model will be of great benefit to the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) swath altimeter mission, which will map water elevations over the ocean, rivers, and estuaries at unprecedented horizontal scales, and which is due to be
launched in 2021.
Building: West Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Physics
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Applied Physics