Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnston, T. M. S., Schonau, M. C., Paluszkiewicz, T., MacKinnon, J. A., Arbic, B. K., Colin, P. L., Alford, M. H., Andres, M., Centurioni, L., Graber, H. C., Helfrich, K. R., Hormann, V., Lermusiaux, P. F. J., Musgrave, R. C., Powell, B. S., Qiu, B., Rudnick, D. L., Simmons, H. L., St Laurent, L., Terrill, E. J., Trossman, D. S., Voet, G., Wijesekera, H. W., & Zeiden, K. L. Flow Encountering Abrupt Topography (FLEAT): a multiscale observational and modeling program to understand how topography affects flows in the western North Pacific. Oceanography, 32(4), (2019): 10-21, doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2019.407.
Description:
Using a combination of models and observations, the US Office of Naval Research Flow Encountering Abrupt Topography (FLEAT) initiative examines how island chains and submerged ridges affect open ocean current systems, from the hundreds of kilometer scale of large current features to the millimeter scale of turbulence. FLEAT focuses on the western Pacific, mainly on equatorial currents that encounter steep topography near the island nation of Palau. Wake eddies and lee waves as small as 1 km were observed to form as these currents flowed around or over the steep topography. The direction and vertical structure of the incident flow varied over tidal, inertial, seasonal, and interannual timescales, with implications for downstream flow. Models incorporated tides and had grids with resolutions of hundreds of meters to enable predictions of flow transformations as waters encountered and passed around Palau’s islands. In addition to making scientific advances, FLEAT had a positive impact on the local Palauan community by bringing new technology to explore local waters, expanding the country’s scientific infrastructure, maintaining collaborations with Palauan partners, and conducting outreach activities aimed at elementary and high school students, US embassy personnel, and Palauan government officials.
Description:
We are grateful to Captains David Murline and Tom Desjardins and the crew of R/V Roger Revelle, and to the staff of the Coral Reef Research Foundation, for their help in carrying out the field program; to ONR for funding this work; and to FLEAT colleagues
for their collaboration. We wish to thank the Bureau of Marine Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism of the Palau National Government, and the Angaur, Kayangel, Koror, and Peleliu State Governments for the relevant permits to conduct this research in Palau’s waters.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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