Is ocean mixing upside down? How mixing processes drive upwelling in a deep-ocean basin
Not stated
- Location
- Southampton, United Kingdom
- Funding
- INSPIRE studentships (NERC); UKRI standard levels, including the recent cost of living increase
- Application deadline
- See university guidance
About the project
Since the seminal work of Walter Munk in the 1960s, oceanographers have believed that the upwelling of cold, abyssal waters that regulates the deep ocean's ability to sequester heat and carbon for decades to millennia is driven by centimetre-scale turbulent mixing associated with breaking waves in the ocean interior. Measurements of deep-ocean turbulence over the last two decades, however, starkly contest this scenario, and instead suggest that mixing by breaking waves drives downwelling of abyssal waters. Inspired by this conundrum, recent theoretical investigations have developed a tantalising alternative view of the role of mixing in sustaining deep-ocean upwelling. In this new view (known as the ‘upside-down ocean mixing hypothesis’), upwelling is driven by highly localised turbulence within thin (typically tens of metres thick) layers near the seafloor, known collectively as the bottom boundary layer.
This project will assess the validity of this new paradigm, and figure out how it works, by analysing the first set of concurrent, systematic measurements of (1) large-scale mixing and upwelling, (2) their interior and bottom boundary layer contributions, and (3) the processes underpinning these contributions, in a representative deep-ocean basin: the Rockall Trough, in the Northeast Atlantic.
For full project details visit the Inspire project page .
Supervisors
- Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato (University of Southampton)
- Doctor Carl Spingys (University of Southampton)
- Professor Matthew Alford (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
- Doctor Kurt Polzin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Potential supervisors
- Potential supervisors: Lead supervisor Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato Regius Professor of Ocean Sciences
Lead supervisor
- Lead supervisor: Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato Regius Professor of Ocean Sciences
Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato
- Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato: Regius Professor of Ocean Sciences
Entry requirements
A 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent , in one of these subjects:
- any numerate discipline
- geophysics
- mathematics
- oceanography or marine science
- physics
Fees and funding
INSPIRE studentships are funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, part of UK Research and Innovation, UKRI). The stipend is in line with UKRI standard levels, including the recent cost of living increase.
All studentships are fully funded for 3.5 years.
How to apply
To make an application, visit the how to apply section of the INSPIRE website .
Contact us
For questions about the project, contact Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato:
Email: acng@noc.soton.ac.uk
For questions about the application process, contact the graduate school office.
Email: gsnocs@soton.ac.uk