ALBERT

Description: The overall objectives of the proposed investigation are to study the dynamics of the large-scale recirculating cells of water in the ocean, which are loosely defined as 'gyres' in this study. A gyre is normally composed of a swift western boundary current (e.g., the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio), a tight recirculating cell attached to the current, and a large-scale sluggish return flow. The water, of course, is not entirely recirculating within a gyre. The exchange of water among gyres is an important process in maintaining the meridional heat transport of the ocean. The gyres constitute a major mode of water movement in the ocean and play significant roles in the global climate system.

Description: Surface plasmons on opposite sides of a thin metal film surrounded by identical dielectrics interact to form coupled surface plasmons (CSP's). Corrugation of the metal film permits interaction of the CSP's with the radiation field. This paper reports the observation of optical emission from CSP's excited by the near-field coupling of molecules adjacent to a corrugated thin metal film embedded in photoresist.

Description: Surface plasmons on opposite sides of a thin metal film can cross couple in the presence of a surface corrugation, or grating. The observation of this cross-coupling phenomenon as a radiative-decay mechanism for molecules near a corrugated thin metal film is reported.

Description: The interaction between the surface plasmon mode that propagates at a metal dielectric interface and the localized plasma resonances (LPR) is investigated experimentally in Ag-island films. A stair-stepped sample geometry comprising a glass substrate, a continuous 50-nm Ag film, an LiF spacer film of thickness d = 5-60 nm, and an Ag-island film of mass thickness 3 nm is used in near-normal-reflectivity and plasmon-propagation-constant (k) determinations. The results are presented graphically and discussed. The overall shape of the reflectivity curves is found to be characteristic of Ag films, but with a dip at about 400 nm (corresponding to the absorption resonance of the island film) which is most pronounced with d = 25 nm. It is inferred that the island resonances are strongly coupled to a continuous-film dissipative mechanism at this d value. This inference is supported by the fact that the variation in k, correctd for LiF effects and plotted as a function of d, is greatest at around d = 25 nm. The implications of this finding for broad-band coupling into a thin-film mode, LPR enhancement of waveguide nonlinear effects, and new surface-enhanced-Raman-scattering geometries are indicated.

Description: A mean vorticity budget analysis is presented of Holland's (1978) numerical ocean general circulation experiment. The stable budgets are compared with classical circulation theory to emphasize the ways in which the mesoscale motions of the model alter (or leave unaltered) classical vorticity balances. The basinwide meridional transports of vorticity by the mean flow and by the mesoscale flow in the mean are evaluated to establish the role(s) of the mesoscale in the larger scale equilibrium vorticity transports. The vorticity equation for this model fluid system is presented and the budget analysis method is described. Vorticity budgets over the selected regions and on a larger scale are given, and a summary of budget results is provided along with remarks about the utility of this type of analysis.

Description: The resonance frequency of an electric dipole placed near a conducting surface is shifted by the dipole-surface interaction. The observation and measurement of these shifts at optical frequencies is reported for an experimental system that consists of a metal-island film spaced a distance d from a continuous Ag film. The dependence of the shift in the frequency of the island resonance on d shows good agreement with that predicted by a classical theory of the dipole-surface interaction.

Description: In situ reflectometer for determining stability of thermal control coatings exposed to combined vacuum, proton, and ultraviolet environments

Description: The authors use different versions of the model of the wind- and thermohaline-driven circulation in the North and Equatorial Atlantic developed under the WOCE Community Modeling Effort to investigate the mean flow pattern and deep-water formation in the subpolar region, and the corresponding structure of the basin-scale meridional overturning circulation transport. A suite of model experiments has been carded out in recent years, differing in horizontal resolution (1° × 1.2°, 1/3° × 0.4°, 1/6° × 0.2°), thermohaline boundary conditions, and parameterization of small-scale mixing. The mass transport in the subpolar gyre and the production of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) appears to be essentially controlled by the outflow of dense water from the Greenland and Norwegian Seas. in the present model simulated by restoring conditions in a buffer zone adjacent to the boundary near the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. Deep winter convection homogenizes the water column in the center of the Labrador Sea to about 2000 m. The water mass properties (potential temperature about 3°C, salinity about 34.9 psu) and the volume (1.1×1053 km3) of the homogenized water are in fair agreement with observations. The convective mixing has only little effect on the net sinking of upper-layer water in the subpolar gyre. Sensitivity experiments show that the export of NADW from the subpolar North Atlantic is more strongly affected by changes in the overflow conditions than by changes in the surface buoyancy fluxes over the Labrador and Irminger Seas, even if these suppress the deep convection completely. The host of sensitivity experiments demonstrates that realistic meridional overturning and heat transport distributions for the North Atlantic (with a maximum of 1 PW) can be obtained with NADW production rates of 15–16 Sv, provided the spurious upwelling of deep water that characterizes many model solutions in the Gulf Stream regime is avoided by adequate horizontal resolution add mixing parameterization.