Oceans cover more than 70 % of Earth’s surface and play a significant role in Earth’s weather and climate. They store solar radiation and distribute heat, modulate gas fluxes, and drive weather patterns with their currents. Surface waves, turbulence, and shear currents (WTS) in the upper layer of the ocean are critical to these functions, yet WTS are not modelled accurately in climate simulations, leading to large errors.

The EU-funded WaTurSheD project will address this important gap through a comprehensive and methodical experimental campaign to control and systematically vary each WTS parameter. It will enable the first-ever model of WTS-driven mixing in the upper ocean using direct empirical evidence.

Publications

• Benjamin Keeler Smeltzer; Olav Rømcke; R. Jason Hearst; Simen Andreas Ådnøy Ellingsen. (2023) Experimental study of the mutual interactions between waves and tailored turbulence. Journal of Fluid Mechanics
• Luc Lenain; Benjamin Keeler Smeltzer; Nick Pizzo; Freilich Maria; Luke Colosi; Simen Andreas Ådnøy Ellingsen; Grare, Laurent; Peyriere, Hugo; Statom, Nick. (2023) Airborne Remote Sensing of Upper-Ocean and Surface Properties, Currents and Their Gradients From Meso to Submesoscales. Geophysical Research Letters
• Zibo Zheng; Yan Li; Simen Andreas Ådnøy Ellingsen. (2023) Statistics of weakly nonlinear waves on currents with strong vertical shear. Physical Review Fluids

Project timeline and Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe 1.1 European Research Council under Grant Agreement No 101045299.

WaTurSheD will run from 2023 until the end of 2027.