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50 Years of Ocean Discovery National Science Foundation 1950-2000 (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Ocean Sciences Today and Tomorrow
The Future of Physical Oceanography
Pages 163-168

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From page 163...
... of \ an Sciences Today anal Tomorrow .
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From page 165...
... The following items were widely hailed as significant recent achievements: a revolutionary understanding of the coupling of the tropical ocean and atmosphere and the development of predictive E1 Nino models; estimation of the global distribution of mesoscale variability in the world ocean and theories and models of this geostrophic turbulence; completion of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and improved estimates of the pathways and timescales of the circulation; and quantitative measurements of the strength of small-scale ocean mixing and the dependence of this mixing on the strength of the internal wave field and other environmental conditions. Excerpted from The Future of Physical Oceanography: Report of the APROPOS Workshop.
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From page 166...
... Could meteorologists have developed daily weather prediction models if these scientists saw only three or four independent realizations of the system in a lifetime? The only way around this statistical problem is to expand our data base and frame hypotheses about past climate change and ocean circulation using paleo-oceanographic studies.
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From page 167...
... Given the rapid increase in Lagrangian measurements by drifting and profiling floats, and the parallel increase in geochemical tracer data, an intense approach to Lagrangian analysis of advection and diffusion is warranted; our existing base of theoretical tools and concepts is not worthy of the observations that we are about to receive. Global and Regional Connections Many emerging physical oceanographic issues concern connections between large-scale and small-scale motions: for example, the relation between small-scale turbulent mixing and the large-scale meridional overturning circulation.
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From page 168...
... We now have a well-acknowledged list of subregions of general circulation models that are greatly in need of improvement. These include: deep convection; boundary currents and benthic boundary layers; the representation of the dynamics and thermohaline variability of the upper mixed layer; fluxes across the air-sea interface; diapycnal mixing; and topographic effects.
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Key Terms

  • global ocean
  • turbulent mixing
  • coastal ocean
  • sea surface
  • ocean circulation

  • overturning circulation
  • boundary currents
  • future developments
  • numerical models
  • satellite oceanography

  • freshwater sources
  • improved estimates
  • horizontal scales
  • exchange processes
  • physical oceanographic

  • spatial distribution
  • core program
  • surface salinity
  • meridional overturning
  • oceanography promise

  • unvisited scales
  • exciting opportunities
  • included john
  • enthusiastic frontal
  • ocean dynamics

  • issues concern
  • forecasting associated
  • developed daily
  • useful analogs
  • biological productivity


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