AOS Faculty Profile
Sonya Legg
Lecturer, Ph.D. Imperial College, University of London
Address: 352 GFDL
Phone: (609) 452-6582
Email: Sonya.Legg at noaa.gov
Ocean Turbulence and Mixing
Turbulent mixing processes in the ocean occur on small-scales, yet play an important role in the large-scale climate circulation of the ocean. Examples include oceanic deep convection, mixing driven by tides flowing over the topography of the sea-floor, and the mixing in dense currents flowing down the continental slopes. Because climate models use grids on scales of the order of 100km, they are unable to capture these small-scale processes, and the net effects of the small-scale mixing - for example the modifications of the large-scale temperature and salinity fields - must be parameterized. My research focuses on obtaining a better understanding of these small-scale processes through high resolution numerical simulations combined with theoretical analysis, and using this understanding to derive new physically-based parameterizations to help improve climate simulations.
Some Recent Publications:
Legg, S. and A.J. Adcroft, 2003: Internal wave breaking at concave and convex continental slopes. J. Phys. Oceanogr., v33, 2224-2246.
Legg, S., 2004: Internal tides generated on a corrugated continental slope. Part I: Cross-slope barotropic forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., v34, 156-173.
Legg, S., 2004: Internal tides generated on a corrugated continental slope. Part II. Along-slope barotropic forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., v34, 1824-1838.
Legg, S., R.W. Hallberg, and J. Girton, 2005: Comparison of entrainment in overflows simulated by z-coordinate, isopycnal and nonhydrostatic models. Ocean Modelling, in press. Journal of Geophysical Research, , 105, 17,393-17,415.