Sinking seaweeds and stratified mixing: Carbon and energy cycling in the environment
Princeton University
Abstract
Stable density stratification is a common feature of environmental flows associated with renewable energy systems, ocean biogeochemical cycles, and air–sea gas exchange. In these flows, the buoyancy force damps vertical motions, reducing the fluxes of quantities such as mass, momentum, and energy. These physical effects are often unresolved in application-scale simulations such that their accuracy depends strongly on how these effects are modeled. Also, these effects are being driven to new regimes in a changing climate as the upper ocean further stratifies, highlighting the need to expand our understanding beyond present conditions for improved projections of and resilient engineering designs for Earth’s future. I will begin by presenting (application-scale) results from a global geochemical ocean box model simulations of marine carbon dioxide removal by open-ocean cultivation and sinking of seaweeds. Then, I will share (subgrid-scale) results from direct numerical simulations of stratified turbulence to highlight the key role of pressure-related quantities in the energy exchange and flux generation within stratified systems.
About the speaker
Dr. Paul Yi is a postdoctoral fellow at the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton. He specializes in environmental fluid mechanics, using theoretical and computational tools to study fundamental physical and biogeochemical processes of natural and engineered systems. Paul received his bachelor’s degree in Geosciences from Princeton, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford.
