University of Michigan researchers have used a U.S. Navy ocean forecasting model to predict where internal tides occur in the ocean in order to bring ocean patterns important to weather forecasting and shipping into clearer focus.
University of Michigan researchers have used a U.S. Navy ocean forecasting model to predict where internal tides occur in the ocean in order to bring ocean patterns important to weather forecasting and shipping into clearer focus.
In particular, scientists are interested in observing ocean patterns called small-scale oceanic eddies—small swirls of water that break off larger eddies created by the Gulf Stream—because they are instrumental in transporting heat and carbon in the ocean. Understanding them can also help the Navy predict weather forecast models for fleet operations, according to U-M oceanographer Brian Arbic.
In 2022, NASA and the French space agency CNES launched a satellite called SWOT, or the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, with the primary goal of observing small-scale eddies. SWOT can track ocean water movements on a minute scale, on the order of 5-to-10 kilometers rather than around 100 kilometers. However, internal tides—water that moves vertically up and down an ocean column—can mask images of the eddies observed by the satellite.
Read More: University of Michigan
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