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Ocean General Circulation Lab
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The lab explores the large-scale currents of a turbulent ocean using data from floats, ships, and satellites.
AboutAbout the lab
Finding order in a turbulent ocean
The Ocean General Circulation Lab studies how the ocean's large-scale currents work, using observational data.
Ocean flow is turbulent, yet at times it shows order, as in ocean currents.
Motivated by the question of how such an ocean can be understood, the lab analyzes data collected by floats, ships, and satellites.
The lab also focuses on the relationship between small-scale turbulent mixing and the circulation that spans entire ocean basins.
Key terms
- Meridional overturning circulation
- A large-scale, global circulation in which seawater moves in the north-south direction and in the depth direction
- Turbulent mixing
- The process by which small-scale turbulence in the ocean mixes seawater of different temperatures and salinities
- Argo float
- An observation instrument that drifts in the ocean measuring temperature and salinity, and periodically rises to the sea surface to transmit its data
ResearchResearch themes
Ocean flows interact with the atmosphere and seafloor topography, and are full of eddies that change over months to years. Because this ocean is difficult to study through experiments, the lab centers its research on analyzing observational data in order to describe and understand it.
*Illustrative imageDoes the Meridional Overturning Circulation Close?
The lab studies the north-south circulation in which deep water that sinks in the cold polar regions becomes lighter through turbulent mixing and returns in shallower layers. Observational data still cannot explain this circulation consistently, and the lab has shown that the turbulence observed in the Indian Ocean is insufficient. It is now working on the Pacific Ocean.
*Illustrative imageUser-Friendly Ship-Based Observation Data
Properties of the deep ocean, as well as carbon dioxide, nutrients, and other quantities, can only be measured from ships. The lab has reorganized data from the international ship-based observation program GO-SHIP by observation line (section), and publishes the data with salinity corrections applied.
*Illustrative imageEddy Transport Seen by Argo Floats
The ocean is full of eddies, and eddies play a role in transporting material. By tracking the positions of Argo floats, which surface every 10 days, the lab estimated deep-ocean currents and used them to estimate the transport by eddies across the global ocean.
*Illustrative imageTurbulent Mixing in the Deep Ocean
The lab studies how the intensity and efficiency of turbulent mixing in the ocean can be estimated, depending on differences in the mechanisms that generate the turbulence. With applications to the ocean general circulation in mind, it takes both observational and theoretical approaches.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorKatsumata KPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorTakashi Ijichi
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Global Sea Surface Currents and Temperature (hd video) ( )” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Does the Meridional Overturning Circulation Close?: “Small Tabular Icebergs ( )” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- User-Friendly Ship-Based Observation Data: “CTD Rosette deployment (OOI 532)” Ocean Observatories Initiative / Public domain (cropped)
- Eddy Transport Seen by Argo Floats: “Argo float deployed from research vessel” NOAA GOMO (Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program) / Public domain (cropped)
- Turbulent Mixing in the Deep Ocean: “Oceanic nonlinear internal solitary waves from the Lombok Strait (MODIS )” Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Miura Lab): “Tropical Cyclone Robyn” NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Masumoto Lab): “Timor Sea (MODIS )” MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Yokoyama Lab (Climate Variability Research Division)): “Terra MODIS Stationary front cloud over Japan” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Yoshikawa-Yoshioka Lab): “Hisaki-sprint-a-artistconcept2013” Nesnad / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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