• Speaker: Dr. Xingenf Liang, University of South Florida
• March 29, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
• Dalton J. Woods Auditorium, ECE 

Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in the World Ocean. A considerable amount of knowledge about mesoscale eddies has been gained, especially since the advent of satellite altimetry in the 1980s. However, most previous work has focused on signals near the sea-surface and, more recently, down to about 2000 m (thanks to Argo). The signals of mesoscale eddies in the deep ocean and their influence on the deep-ocean dynamics have not yet been intensively studied. In this talk, Liang will present the connections between mesoscale eddies and deep ocean dynamical processes, including low-frequency flows, internal waves, and ocean mixing by combing the sea surface height anomaly data and a collection of deep ocean measurement near the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR). The results show clear energy transfer near the crest of the EPR from low-frequency flows, including mesoscale eddies, to near-inertial oscillations, turbulence, and mixing. This finding is particularly important for understanding the dispersal of ocean properties and materials in the deep ocean.