Ocean Mixing Experts head for Bangor
Experts in Ocean Mixing from across the planet are heading to the Marine Centre Wales at Bangor University for an International workshop on “Ocean Mixing” (11th – 13th July).
The scientists from as far afield as the US, China and Russia, as well as continental Europe and the UK, will be discussing global efforts to improve understanding of the processes which stir up the oceans and how those processes should be represented in weather and climate forecast models.
Commenting organiser Professor Tom Rippeth of the School of Ocean Sciences said:
“The oceans play a key role in the Earth’s climate system, they move heat around which gives places like the UK unusually temperate climate conditions when compared to other locations on the same latitude.
“They are one of the main nature ‘sinks’, as they absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and so the oceans are currently working to offset the impact of man-made CO2 emissions on climate.
“Yet in many cases the processes responsible for stirring the ocean are poorly represented in the computer models of the ocean and climate which are used to make weather and climate change forecasts.”
“In this workshop we will be hearing about world leading research in observing the oceanic turbulence which is responsible for driving the mixing, as well as discussing efforts to incorporate these processes in the computer forecast models, with the aim of improving weather and climate forecasts.”
The Physical Oceanography team at the University’s School of Ocean Sciences are world leaders in the measurements of turbulence in the ocean. Their research was recently classes as having world leading impact, in the Research Excellence Framework 2014 Case Study: “Turbulence research improves ocean forecasting and marine energy infrastructure”.
Publication date: 11 July 2017