Coupling of Waves to Sea Surface Currents Via Horizontal Density Gradients

Coupling of Waves to Sea Surface Currents Via Horizontal Density Gradients by Derryl D. Holm, Ruiao Hu, and Oliver D. Street. Stochastic Transport in Upper Ocean Dynamics (2023).

I’m new to mathematical models for ocean science research, so I’ve been looking around at contempoorary topics and it this read was a nice primer. We’ve reached a point in our history where satellite images of our sea surface are offering forth data we’ve never had before to help us better understand ocean submesoscale processes (the interactions between currents in bodies of water less than 100 km across).

This paper’s aim is to present models for using satellite observations to better understand wave and current dynamics. The upper coean is where the majority of the ocean’s heat is stored. As the atmosphere warms due to climate change, so will the upper ocean, which will impact the “dynamical landscapes of our oceans” (including waves and currents) which will in turn influence weather and climate systems. We turn to mathematical models in such moments to help us better estimate what these changes might be over what time horizons.