コンビーナ:日比谷 紀之(東京大学大学院理学系研究科地球惑星科学専攻)、安田 一郎(東京大学大気海洋研究所)、Lakshmi Kantha(Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA)

Mixing plays many important roles in the global ocean through a variety of different processes. In the upper ocean, mixing affects the sea surface temperature and hence air-sea interactions, which in turn influence the state of the atmosphere on a variety of time scales. Mixing in the deep ocean maintains the abyssal stratification of the world's oceans and influences the global overturning circulation, which in turn affects long-term climate. Ocean mixing modulates the transport and dispersal of dissolved and suspended materials, including pollutants, plankton and fish larvae. It also plays an important role in the oceanic food chain in so far as primary productivity, which occurs predominantly in the euphotic zone, is affected by nutrient uptake from the deep associated with ocean mixing.

Microstructure profilers are being increasingly and routinely used to measure turbulence in the oceans, including the deep. Mixing models with more inclusive physics are being developed. Increasing computer power is making it possible to include sophisticated mixing models in global circulation models. As such, it is time to take stock of where we stand at present and explore the frontiers of mixing research over the next decade to advance our knowledge and utilize it for societal benefit.

This session encompasses a wide variety of aspects of mixing within the water column from the surface to the seabed, as well as the impact of mixing on key physical, biological, and chemical processes, such as those mentioned above, with special attention to new findings obtained through improvements in oceanographic instrumentation, mixing models and the use of supercomputers. Observational, theoretical, experimental, and numerical approaches are all welcome. In this session, we particularly encourage discussion that can confirm how far our understanding of related topics has advanced and help define the new frontiers of ocean mixing research to be tackled in the next decade.