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Oceans 2025 Theme 3, Work Package 3.2: Horizontal Patchiness in Vertical Mixing in Stratified Shelf Seas

In this Work Package, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) aim to address vertical mixing processes at the thermocline that are either poorly understood or have inadequate parameterisations in models. This is important because, as a boundary to vertical mixing, the thermocline affects much of the ecology and biochemistry of seasonally-stratifying shelf seas. Horizontal patchiness of vertical mixing is now known to be driven by varying seabed topography, indicating a need for a non-hydrostatic approach. This work is an expansion of the research carried out by POL during project Physical-Biological Control of New Production within the Seasonal Thermocline.

The specific objectives of Work Package 3.2 are:

• Quantify discrepancies between the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS) numerical model and observations of thermocline depths/strengths and diapycnal fluxes.
• Determine the causes of these discrepancies in terms of modelled and observed responses to meteorological forcing and in terms of the potential for patchy internal mixing.
• Quantify the importance of non-hydrostatic processes at the thermocline over typical shelf topographies.
• Carry out ship-based process studies focusing on the patchiness of mixing through the shelf thermocline.
• Quantify the consequences of thermocline patchiness over a whole shelf sea, alongside recommendations for process, bathymetry, and model resolution required to simulate the more important consequences.

More detailed information on this Work Package is available at pages 7 - 8 of the official Oceans 2025 Theme 3 document: Oceans 2025 Theme 3

Weblink: http://www.oceans2025.org/

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