Sat. Jun 5, 2021 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM Ch.09 (Zoom Room 09)

convener:Toshiyuki Hibiya(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo), Chairperson:Taira Nagai(Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo)

Ocean mixing plays crucial roles both in the open and coastal ocean, affecting key physical, biological and chemical processes. Mixing in the upper ocean influences the sea surface temperature and hence air-sea interactions which impact global climate change, while mixing in the deep ocean maintains abyssal stratification of the world's oceans and impacts the global overturning circulation. In coastal oceans, mixing modulates the transport and dispersal of dissolved and suspended materials including pollutants and nutrients. Planktonic ecosystems are controlled by nutrient pumping associated with ocean mixing.

In this session, we encourage contributors to present recent findings of ocean mixing obtained through field observations as well as theoretical, numerical, and laboratory studies. Through the related detailed discussions, we would like to confirm how far has our understanding of the ocean mixing processes advanced, defining the new frontier of ocean mixing research to be tackled in the next decade. The session encompasses a wide variety of aspects of coastal and open ocean mixing processes; within the water column from the surface through the interior to the near boundary benthic mixing, including the roles of mixing in the biological processes and productivity of the ocean. Observational, theoretical, and numerical modeling studies are all encouraged.