NSF Org:	OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient:	WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
Initial Amendment Date:	July 20, 2022
Latest Amendment Date:	February 11, 2025
Award Number:	2232439
Award Instrument:	Continuing Grant
Program Manager:	Sean Kennan skennan@nsf.gov  (703)292-7575 OCE  Division Of Ocean Sciences GEO  Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2022
End Date:	July 31, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$3,409,342.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$3,553,342.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2022 = $3,146,190.00 FY 2024 = $347,152.00 FY 2025 = $60,000.00
History of Investigator:	Kurt Polzin (Principal Investigator) kpolzin@whoi.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 266 WOODS HOLE RD WOODS HOLE MA  US  02543-1535 (508)289-3542
Sponsor Congressional District:	09
Primary Place of Performance:	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 266 WOODS HOLE RD WOODS HOLE MA  US  02543-1536
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	09
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	GFKFBWG2TV98
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, SHIP OPERATIONS, OCE-Ocean Sciences Research
Primary Program Source:	01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):
Program Element Code(s):	161000, 541100, 689900
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.050

ABSTRACT

The research will examine the capability of global scale Ocean Circulation Models (OCMs) to represent internal gravity waves, their dynamics and mixing with characterizing the oceanic internal wavefield at regional scales through a targeted field campaign and numerical investigations. The project will obtain new observations through a field campaign and targeted numerical simulations and will leverage existing data. This project is jointly funded by NSF and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).

A moored array will be deployed in the Brazil Basin to quantify near boundary flow distortions due to finite amplitude topography, near boundary internal wave breaking, and momentum and buoyancy fluxes in both turbulent and internal wavebands. Extant data obtained as part of a Tracer Release Experiment in the same domain and data from the Global Drifter Program will be used to create a regional statistical characterization of the oceanic internal wavefield in the Sub-Tropical South Atlantic. This characterization will be compared to a hierarchy of five models: an operational forecast model (HYCOM), O(1-3) km horizontal resolution ROMS-CROCO, a nonhydrostatic ROMS-CROCO ?mountain scale? simulations with 50 m resolution, a realistic Large Eddy Simulations (LES), and a quasi-analytic spectral representation of the internal wave energy spectrum.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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