Project description
Innovative approach to improve oceanic transport
The ocean absorbs heat and CO2, but predicting how they are distributed is complex due to turbulent vortices. Current climate models cannot resolve these vortices, so a new, physically-based parameterisation is needed for reliable climate forecasting. In this context, the ERC-funded P-BOT project aims to improve oceanic transport. It will use a multi-method approach to derive a physically-based parameterisation for turbulent transport in the 3D ocean, incorporating recent theoretical advancements and additional physical elements of the real ocean. The project combines laboratory experiments with realistic ocean-floor topography and satellite data analysis, from which transport and bottom friction will be inferred independently. The resulting parameterisation will be implemented in a state-of-the-art climate model.
Objective
The ocean absorbs 90% of the heat associated with global warming and 30% of anthropogenic CO2. How such tracers are accumulated and redistributed within the turbulent ocean is a central issue of long-term climate prediction. The challenge stems from the existence of ocean mesoscale eddies: turbulent vortices tens of kilometers wide that are not resolved by climate models despite being key contributors to ocean transport. In the absence of a better theory, the associated transport is parameterized in global models using ad hoc coefficients with arbitrary depth dependence. The present project will improve upon this unsatisfactory state of the art. Based on a multi-method approach combining theory, laboratory experiments, numerical simulations and satellite data analysis I will derive a physically-based parameterization for turbulent transport in the 3D ocean. The derivation hinges on my recent quantitative theoretical advances for the magnitude and 3D structure of turbulent transport in the canonical models of oceans and atmospheres (the Charney, Eady and Phillips models):
- I will augment these theories by including the additional physical ingredients of the real ocean: bottom slope, arbitrary large-scale flow and density stratification, etc.
- I will determine the frictional dissipation on the ocean floor by combining rotating-platform laboratory experiments with 3D-printed realistic ocean-floor topography.
- I will infer transport and bottom friction independently through the combination of satellite and profiler data.
- I will derive the resulting parameterization using multiple-scale expansion before implementing it in a state-of-the-art climate model.
As opposed to the current practice of adjusting transport coefficients to the current state of the ocean, the physically-based parameterization will remain valid in a warming climate, a necessary condition both for paleoclimate studies and for reliable climate forecast over the coming centuries to millennia.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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75015 Paris
France
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