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Tutorials
TT01 Theory, software, and best practices for large eddy simulations of small-scale ocean turbulence
Date and Time: 3/3/2022, 10:00PM to 11:00PM
Location: Room 19
Large eddy simulations (LES) are an increasingly important tool for studying turbulent ocean surface and bottom boundary layers. LES approximate the smallest scales of motion with an analytic turbulence closure, thereby dramatically reducing its computational cost compared to direct numerical simulation (where all scales of motion are resolved) while producing a solution with much higher fidelity than “Reynolds Averaged” turbulence models used in general circulation modeling.
LES has been applied to oceanic problems for decades, but its application has been limited by limited software availability and computational costs. Today, the increased availability of LES software, faster CPUs, increased availability of GPUs and GPU-capable software, and increasing scientific interest in the effects of small-scale turbulence of the ocean and Earth system mean that LES will likely become increasingly common in physical oceanography.
In this tutorial we will review LES theory, turbulence closures used in ocean simulations, common pitfalls, and best practices for the practical use of LES in ocean research. Code for generating, visualizing, and analyzing LES data used in the tutorial will be available at https://github.com/tomchor/AGUOSM22-LES-tutorial.
Lead Organizer: Tomas Chor, , tomaschor@gmail.com
TT03 Meditation for Scientists
Date and Time: 3/1/2022, 9:00PM to 10:00PM
Location: Room 20
In scientific research we engage our minds to explore the world, uncovering natural law through observation, logic, rational thinking, and creativity. Meditation involves the practice of another crucial skill that has no real analogue in our western educational system, namely the training of the mind to be still. The creation of such mental stillness is found to provide a source of rest, nourishment, and refreshment, as well as of objectivity.
In this tutorial, two established scientists who are also long-time meditators present their view that the practice of meditation is potentially of great benefit to scientists in our work as well as in our lives. The tutorial will include a brief practical introduction to meditation, as well as a discussion with the presenters regarding their experience.
This tutorial follows a workshop at the 2020 Ocean Sciences meeting that the two organizers personally arranged. The overwhelmingly positive response, with perhaps two hundred attendees, revealed the strong desire in the community for this material and encouraged us to apply for a tutorial talk in order to reach an even broader audience.
http://www.jmlilly.net/blog/2020/02/09/meditation-for-scientists.html
Lead Organizer: Jonathan Lilly, , jonathanlilly@gmail.com
TT04 Connecting Users to fit-for-purpose Ocean Satellite Data for Applications, Information and Decisions: NOAA Coastwatch/Oceanwatch/Polarwatch
Date and Time: 3/2/2022, 9:00AM to 10:00AM
Location: Room 19
The NOAA CoastWatch/OceanWatch/PolarWatch program (a.k.a. “CoastWatch”, https://coastwatch.noaa.gov) assists a wide range of stakeholders in their use of oceaquatic satellite data along the research to applications value chain, from observations to decision-making. Ocean coastal and inland water observations from space have the advantage of broad spatial and temporal coverage that complement in situ measurements. NOAA CoastWatch products and services are free and publicly-available to government, academic, commercial and general public users. Environmental parameters include sea/lake surface temperature, ocean (water) color (chlorophyll, etc.), sea surface height (altimetry), winds, surface roughness (synthetic aperture radar), salinity and sea ice with global, regional and even high resolution “local” geographical coverage. Data quality and availability are fit for purpose including near real-time latency as well as delayed-mode, higher quality and longer term time series datasets. CoastWatch includes a central operations office having the primary processing responsibilities and co-located with the ocean satellite data producers at NOAA and a distribution of regional nodes distributed geographically in the US and integrated across the NOAA mission line offices and is thus well-positioned to connect observations with users. Interactive data portals enable search and discovery, multi-product visualization and customizable data downloading. “Power users” can use command-line scripts to automate their access. CoastWatch provides satellite data products for understanding and managing our oceans and coasts, provides training and tailored products to users, and maintains a helpdesk to educate and guide users from novice to expert. The CoastWatch Utilities software package allows users to customize visualization and analysis. The latest tools, services and products will be presented.
Lead Organizer: Melanie Abecassis, , melanie.abecassis@noaa.gov
TT05 Coarse-graining: blurring complex oceanic flows for insight
Date and Time: 3/3/2022, 10:00PM to 11:00PM
Location: Room 20
The coarse-graining approach to analyze complex multiscale flows is more versatile and powerful than the classical `mean-eddy' decomposition traditionally used in physical oceanography, and more broadly applicable than spectral, or Fourier-based, analysis. It allows for deriving equations governing the dynamics + processes at different scales locally in space. Examples include viscous dissipation, energy cascade, baroclinic vortex generation, external forcing, instabilities, and measuring local power spectra. Coarse-graining is becoming more common in other fields of fluid dynamics, has a rigorous mathematical foundation, and is closely related to well-established physics techniques, including macroscopic electromagnetism, renormalization group, and large eddy simulation.
In this tutorial, we aim to present a few key ideas of coarse-graining to non-experts. We will survey the wealth of dynamical information that can be gleaned from complex geophysical flows. We will walk the audience through a simple python implementation applied to an example dataset and explain/interpret the resulting output. The code will be run in real time, will be made available online, and will be usable by non-experts.
Lead Organizer: Hussein Aluie, hussein@rochester.edu
TT07 Ocean-based CDR: Where can research make a difference?
Date and Time: 3/1/2022, 9:00AM to 10:00AM
Location: Room 19
The ocean covers about 70% of the Earth's surface and already buffers a large fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions (NRC, 2017); hence, much of the global capacity for natural carbon sequestration is in the ocean. Natural processes on land and ocean have removed roughly 55% of emitted CO2, but it may be possible to enhance both the uptake and longer-term sequestration potential of these processes. With funding from the ClimateWorks Foundation, the National Academies appointed a committee to explore ocean-based approaches to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and sequestration and provide a path forward for research and development of promising ocean-based CDR approaches.
This Tutorial Session will include discussion of the committees' recently published findings regarding the legal, political, and social landscape surrounding ocean-based CDR as well as the state of science and state of technology of six ocean-based CDR approaches: ecosystem recovery, seaweed cultivation, nutrient fertilization, artificial upwelling and downwelling, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and electrochemistry. The discussion will highlight the most urgent questions that need to be answered in order to assess the benefits, risks, scalability and viability of each ocean-based CDR approach. The session will end with a recommended research agenda for moving the needle forward on ocean-based CDR solutions as part of a larger climate mitigation strategy.
Lead Organizer: Kelly Oskvig, , koskvig@nas.edu
TT08 Quick Primer on Oceans 2.0
Date and Time: 3/2/2022, 10:00AM to 11:00AM
Location: Room 19
This tutorial session will introduce participants to Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC’s) data archives and the major applications comprising the open access Oceans 2.0 data portal and management system. Attendees will have the opportunity to follow along, accessing data through several different interfaces.
ONC, a University of Victoria initiative, operates cabled ocean observatories off the Pacific coast of British Columbia, in the Arctic Ocean and in the Atlantic. Real time long-running data time series are continually collected from a wide variety of ocean and coastal environments, on-shore, inshore, offshore, in the water column, and extending below the seafloor. The data, data products, and services from ONC physical and digital infrastructure support a growing community of researchers across diverse disciplines, enable critical policy decisions, provide a platform for the ocean tech industry to test and develop instruments and respond to events, and help transform ocean technology and infrastructure into new knowledge.
Since first going live in 2006, the instrumentation network has grown to 600+ instruments and 9000+ sensors delivering both archived and real time data in 180+ distinct data product formats. Products are generated on demand, when requests are received from either the Oceans 2.0 web applications or the Application Programming Interface (API). The total investments to date to build and operate the ocean observatories exceed $350M. As of spring 2021, more than 1 petabyte of data had been archived and made freely available to the global ocean science and technology community.
Lead Organizer: Dwight Owens, , dwowens@uvic.ca
TT09 Conceptual models of the El Niño / Southern Oscillation
Date and Time: 3/3/2022, 9:00PM to 10:00PM
Location: Room 19
The El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which emerges from ocean-atmosphere interactions in the tropical Pacific, exemplifies both the complexity and the global relevance of tropical climate variability. This talk reviews ENSO's fundamental properties (including seasonal synchronization, spectrum, pattern diversity, amplitude asymmetry, and predictability) and mechanisms (oceanic “memory”, atmospheric and oceanic feedbacks, stochastic atmospheric forcing, essential nonlinearities, and sensitivities to the background climate), and describes how these features are represented in simplified conceptual models of ENSO. The session includes an interactive discussion of ways to advance understanding of ENSO and its representation in conceptual models, and avenues to tackle important outstanding ENSO research questions. This tutorial is a companion to the session on “El Niño in a changing climate,” and is coordinated with the International CLIVAR Working Group on ENSO Conceptual Models.
Lead Organizer: Fei-Fei Jin, jff@hawaii.edu
TT10 Harmful Algal Blooms and Ocean Acidification: Defining an Agenda for Integrated Coastal Stressor Research
Date and Time: 3/1/2022, 9:00AM to 10:00AM
Location: Room 20
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) and ocean acidification (OA) are threats to marine ecosystems and human communities. HABs and OA have common drivers in coastal areas and often co-occur in space and time. Although many studies have provided insight into HAB dynamics, only a few of these have included OA. Similarly, OA studies have examined biogeochemistry and impacts to marine resources and have started to expand into multi-stressor studies, but less is known about the influences of HAB-OA interactions and cascading impacts to coastal ecosystems and economies.
The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Competitive Research Program (CRP) held a virtual workshop to identify research needs at the intersection of HABs and OA. This tutorial will focus on the outcomes of the workshop, including regional and national grand challenges, research priorities, and research products. Research areas of high priority at the national level include modeling for prediction, attribution, and sensitivity testing; leveraging monitoring assets to measure HAB and OA parameters simultaneously; data management to foster integration; data product development; and enhanced communication and outreach efforts. Importantly, the workshop identified a need for increased collaboration between HAB and OA scientists. Interdisciplinary approaches will be required to disentangle the complexities of HAB-OA interactions and address stakeholder needs. This effort has been facilitated by the NOAA OAP and NCCOS CRP through various activities since the workshop, such as the development of a community of practice and a federal funding opportunity, the progress of which will be discussed during the tutorial.
https://oceanacidification.noaa.gov/HABOA2020.aspx
Lead Organizer: Halle Berger, halle.berger@uconn.edu
TT11 Global Multidecadal Ocean Reanalyses from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) Consortium
Date and Time: 3/3/2022, 9:00PM to 10:00PM
Location: Room 20
This Tutorial focuses on global multidecadal ocean state estimation: the challenge of reconstructing the three-dimensional, full-depth time-evolving ocean state by combining diverse satellite and in-situ ocean and marine ice data with numerical models in a rigorous and quantitative framework.
Challenges and recent progress in the field will be reviewed, with salient examples drawn from diverse projects from the “Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean” (ECCO) Consortium. By design, ECCO state estimates conserve heat, salt, and volume, which enable closed-budget analyses, a virtue that is critical for analyzing causal mechanisms of circulation changes on climate timescales.
Attendees will be shown how to obtain the latest ECCO ocean state estimates from NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) and provided resources for calculating closed heat, salt, and volume budget analyses, comparing the state estimates against observational data, and for re-running the open-source ECCO model for additional custom investigations. Open-source Python computational libraries and tutorials that facilitate ECCO analyses will be also introduced.
Finally, diverse climate science applications of ECCO ocean state estimates and its adjoint will be described with salient examples drawn from the recent literature.
Lead Organizer: Ian Fenty, Ian.Fenty@jpl.nasa.gov