Idealized Mesoscale Dissipation

Idealized simulation of mesoscale energy propagation and dissipation at a western boundary.

In this published work, we investigate oceanic mesoscale energy dissipation at western boundaries. I am interested in understanding how the mesoscale energy is dissipated given that mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in the ocean and are nonlinear in mid and mid-high latitudes. Keypoints:

  • Bottom drag dominates viscous dissipation when eddies are nonlinear, and the open-ocean region dissipates most of the total kinetic energy.
  • Western boundary might be important for mesoscale dissipation only when energy generation is nearby since eddies are fully nonlinear in mid and mid-high latitudes.
  • We need to investigate other dissipation mechanisms in the presence of rough bottom topography.

Double gyre simulation of mesoscale energy dissipation.

Next, we use a double-gyre simulation to investigate more dissipation mechanisms, such as eddy killing by wind, eddy-mean interaction, and the effect of rough bottom topography.

Satellite and Global Datasets

Daily bottom eddy kinetic energy from GLORYS12, a global ocean reanalysis dataset.

In this work, I am interested in using satellite and Argo datasets to estimate how much global mesoscale energy is dissipated by bottom drag. Keypoints:

  • The first time using satellite and Argo datasets to estimate near-seafloor EKE and drag dissipation rates.
  • Calculate EOF vertical structures from GLORYS12 dataset (Jean-Michel et al., 2021) to reconstruct near-seafloor EKE.
  • Global bottom drag dissipation is $O.19\ \mathrm{TW}$, which is too small to dissipate the $1\ \mathrm{TW}$ of wind input to geostrophic flow. This work is under preparation for a GRL publication, and stay tuned for the preprint.

Nearshore Research

sand coverage in Taoyuan coast Erotion in Taoyuan coast and reef exposure. Source: AGU 2019 poster presentation

I started up a team of nearshore sand coverage monitoring in Taoyuan, Taiwan. I was the Unmanned Airborne Technique team leader and performed field work, data processing, and analysis. I developed an effective operating system for this research team which has successfully continued this project, in part due to the training practices I helped develop.

uav research UAV LiDAR research

I contributed to the UAV LiDAR system development (Hunag et al., 2018). This autonomous system can measure waves, tides, wave energy dissipation (published in 2020 ICCE conference proceedings 10.9753/icce.v36v.waves.34, video), and the roughness of the topography.

fishing weir investigation Archaeological landscape: fishing weir investigation. Source: COAST Lab

In addition to the nearshore physical dynamics research, I also participated in the archaeological landscape investigation in Xinwu, Taiwan, which uses airborne imaging techniques and hydrographic measurements to understand the fishing weir sites and their relationship with tidal dynamics.