|
Eddies
In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid behind the obstacle flows into the void creating a swirl of fluid on each edge of the obstacle, followed by a short reverse flow of fluid behind the obstacle flowing upstream, toward the back of the obstacle. This phenomenon is naturally observed behind large emergent rocks in swift-flowing rivers. An eddy is a movement of fluid that deviates from the general flow of the fluid. An example for an eddy is a vortex which produces such deviation. However, there are other types of eddies that are not simple vortices. For example, a Rossby wave is an eddy which is an undulation that is a deviation from mean flow, but doesn't have the local closed streamlines of a vortex. Swirl and eddies in engineering The propensity of a fluid to swirl is used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haida Eddies
Haida Eddies are episodic, clockwise rotating ocean eddies that form during the winter off the west coast of British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii and Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago. These eddies are notable for their large size, persistence, and frequent recurrence. Rivers flowing off the North American continent supply the continental shelf in the Hecate Strait with warmer, fresher, and nutrient-enriched water. Haida eddies are formed every winter when this rapid outflow of water through the strait wraps around Cape St. James at the southern tip of Haida Gwaii, and meets with the cooler waters of the Alaska Current. This forms a series of plumes which can merge into large eddies that are shed into the northeast Pacific Ocean by late winter, and may persist for up to two years. Haida eddies can be more than 250 km in diameter, and transport a mass of coastal water approximately the volume of Lake Michigan over 1,000 km offshore into the lower nutrient waters of the northeast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy Pumping
Eddy pumping is a component of mesoscale eddy-induced vertical motion. It is a physical mechanism through which vertical motion is created from variations in an eddy's rotational strength. Cyclonic (Anticyclonic) eddies lead primarily to upwelling (downwelling) in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa in the Southern hemisphere. It is a key mechanism driving biological and biogeochemical processes in the ocean such as algal blooms and the carbon cycle. The mechanism Eddies have a re-stratifying effect, which means they tend to organise the water in layers of different density. These layers are separated by surfaces called isopycnals. The re-stratification of the mixed layer is strongest in regions with large horizontal density gradients, known also as “fronts”, where the geostrophic shear and potential energy provide an energy source from which baroclinic and symmetric instabilities can grow. Below the mixed layer, a region of rapid density change (or pycnocline) separa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy Diffusion
Eddy diffusion, eddy dispersion, or turbulent diffusion is a process by which substances are mixed in the atmosphere, the ocean or in any fluid system due to eddy motion. In other words, it is mixing that is caused by eddies that can vary in size from subtropical ocean gyres down to the small Kolmogorov microscales. The concept of turbulence or turbulent flow causes eddy diffusion to occur. The theory of eddy diffusion was first developed by Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor. In laminar flows, material properties (salt, heat, humidity, aerosols etc.) are mixed by random motion of individual molecules (see molecular diffusion). By a purely probabilistic argument, the net flux of molecules from high concentration area to low concentration area is higher than the flux in the opposite direction. This down-gradient flux equilibrates the concentration profile over time. This phenomenon is called molecular diffusion, and its mathematical aspect is captured by the diffusion equation. In tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between those layers. Turbulence is commonly observed in everyday phenomena such as surf, fast flowing rivers, billowing storm clouds, or smoke from a chimney, and most fluid flows occurring in nature or created in engineering applications are turbulent. Turbulence is caused by excessive kinetic energy in parts of a fluid flow, which overcomes the damping effect of the fluid's viscosity. For this reason turbulence is commonly realized in low viscosity fluids. In general terms, in turbulent flow, unsteady vortices appear of many sizes which interact with each other, consequently drag due to friction effects increases. This increases the energy needed to pump fluid through a pipe. The onset of turbulence can be predicted by the dimensionless Rey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reynolds Number
In fluid mechanics, the Reynolds number () is a dimensionless quantity that helps predict fluid flow patterns in different situations by measuring the ratio between inertial and viscous forces. At low Reynolds numbers, flows tend to be dominated by laminar (sheet-like) flow, while at high Reynolds numbers flows tend to be turbulent. The turbulence results from differences in the fluid's speed and direction, which may sometimes intersect or even move counter to the overall direction of the flow (eddy currents). These eddy currents begin to churn the flow, using up energy in the process, which for liquids increases the chances of cavitation. The Reynolds number has wide applications, ranging from liquid flow in a pipe to the passage of air over an aircraft wing. It is used to predict the transition from laminar to turbulent flow and is used in the scaling of similar but different-sized flow situations, such as between an aircraft model in a wind tunnel and the full-size ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irminger Rings
Irminger Rings (IRs) are mesoscale (15-50 kilometers) ocean eddies that are formed off the West coast of Greenland and travel southwestwards through the Labrador Sea. Most IRs are anti-cyclonic (clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere). There is considerable interest in researching IRs, because they have been hypothesized to influence deep convection in the Labrador sea, and therefore the formation of deep water. Basin overview The Irminger Current (IC) is a branch of the North Atlantic Drift (NAD) that flows westward from Iceland. Because of its Atlantic origins, IC waters are relatively warm and saline compared to the cold, fresh water of the East Greenland Current (EGC) originating from the Greenland Sea. Off the East coast of Greenland, the IC and the EGC meet and "combine" after rounding Cape Farewell to form the heavily stratified current system known as the West Greenland Current (WGC). The top layer of the WGC is 200 meters deep and consists of fresh EGC water. The lay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kármán Vortex Street
In fluid dynamics, a Kármán vortex street (or a von Kármán vortex street) is a repeating pattern of swirling vortices, caused by a process known as vortex shedding, which is responsible for the unsteady separation of flow of a fluid around blunt bodies. It is named after the engineer and fluid dynamicist Theodore von Kármán, and is responsible for such phenomena as the " singing" of suspended telephone or power lines and the vibration of a car antenna at certain speeds. Mathematical modeling of von Kármán vortex street can be performed using different techniques including but not limited to solving the full Navier-Stokes equations with k-epsilon, SST, k-omega and Reynolds stress, and large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence models, by numerically solving some dynamic equations such as the Ginzburg-Landau equation, or by use of a bicomplex variable. Analysis A vortex street will form only at a certain range of flow velocities, specified by a range of Reynolds numb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Phytoplankton obtain their energy through photosynthesis, as do trees and other plants on land. This means phytoplankton must have light from the sun, so they live in the well-lit surface layers ( euphotic zone) of oceans and lakes. In comparison with terrestrial plants, phytoplankton are distributed over a larger surface area, are exposed to less seasonal variation and have markedly faster turnover rates than trees (days versus decades). As a result, phytoplankton respond rapidly on a global scale to climate variations. Phytoplankton form the base of marine and freshwater food webs and are key players in the global carbon cycle. They account for about half of global photosynthetic activity and at least half of the oxygen production, despi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fluid Dynamics
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including '' aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and hydrodynamics (the study of liquids in motion). Fluid dynamics has a wide range of applications, including calculating forces and moments on aircraft, determining the mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines, predicting weather patterns, understanding nebulae in interstellar space and modelling fission weapon detonation. Fluid dynamics offers a systematic structure—which underlies these practical disciplines—that embraces empirical and semi-empirical laws derived from flow measurement and used to solve practical problems. The solution to a fluid dynamics problem typically involves the calculation of various properties of the fluid, such as flow velocity, pressure, density, and temperature, as functions of space a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viscosity
The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the internal frictional force between adjacent layers of fluid that are in relative motion. For instance, when a viscous fluid is forced through a tube, it flows more quickly near the tube's axis than near its walls. Experiments show that some stress (such as a pressure difference between the two ends of the tube) is needed to sustain the flow. This is because a force is required to overcome the friction between the layers of the fluid which are in relative motion. For a tube with a constant rate of flow, the strength of the compensating force is proportional to the fluid's viscosity. In general, viscosity depends on a fluid's state, such as its temperature, pressure, and rate of deformation. However, the dependence on some of these properties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxbow Lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are called billabongs. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the main stream. Geology An oxbow lake forms when a meandering river erodes through the neck of one of its meanders. This takes place because meanders tend to grow and become more curved over time. The river then follows a shorter course that bypasses the meander. The entrances to the abandoned meander eventually silt up, forming an oxbow lake. Because oxbow lakes are stillwater lakes, with no current flowing through them, the entire lake gradually silts up, becoming a bog or swamp and then evaporating completely. When a river reaches a low-lying plain, often in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canary A2002186 1155 250m
Canary originally referred to the island of Gran Canaria on the west coast of Africa, and the group of surrounding islands (the Canary Islands). It may also refer to: Animals Birds * Canaries, birds in the genera ''Serinus'' and ''Crithagra'' including, among others: ** Atlantic canary (''Serinus canaria''), a small wild bird *** Domestic canary, ''Serinus canaria domestica'', a small pet or aviary bird, also responsible for the "canary yellow" color term ** Yellow canary (''Serinus flaviventris''), a small bird Fish * Canary damsel (''Similiparma lurida''), fish of the family Pomacentridae, found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean * Canary moray (''Gymnothorax bacalladoi''), an eel of the family Muraenidae * Canary rockfish (''Sebastes pinniger''), of the family Sebastidae, found in the northeast Pacific Ocean People * Canary Burton (born 1942), American keyboardist, composer and writer * Canary Conn (born 1949), American entertainer and author * Bill Canary (fl. 1994), Republica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
