2016 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award winning poster presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion:
Turbulent Horizontal Convection at High Prandtl Numbers (P0028)
Ocean circulation is a network of currents that flows around the world. The thermohaline circulation, also known as the meridional overturning circulation takes its source at the poles where the cold/salty fluid sinks under the action of freezing on the ice cap for example during the winter periods. This phenomena leads a turbulent sinking plume, identified here using organic dyes, allowing for visualizing the salinity and thus the density of the flow in the present case. The understanding of the mixing dynamics in the plume is crucial to quantify the effect of external factors on the meridional circulation such as climate change and the reduction in size of the ice cap at the poles. Global warming, resulting in a disappearance of the ice cap, may lead to the shutdown of the turbulent convection illustrated here and result in a dramatic increase of the sea water temperature, sea level rise as well as a profound change of the current networks and climate around the earth.
APS Physics (American Physical Society)
Gallery of Fluid Motion
Presented by the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
http://gfm.aps.org/meetings/dfd-2016/57d86ac8b8ac3117910007ee
69th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (11/20/2016 — 11/22/2016)
AUTHORS
Pierre-Yves Passaggia, Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Matthew Hurley, Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Brian White, Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Alberto Scotti, Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Link to the post for the previous (2015) year’s award winning poster.