Plume-Driven Mixing in Stratified Fluids

The research group of Professors Restrepo, Goldstein, and Pesci are currently studying certain geophysical situations where large regions of density-stratified fluids may be mixed by descending jets of fluid. They have been looking at the effects of filamentary gravitational plume descending into a linear density gradient, and have found interesting and fascinating patterns and dynamics of the fluids. The current project will be to study the effects of the descending fluids on a solid incline, as found the North Atlantic. We will study the mixing, current instabilities, and particle transport using sophisticated imaging and particle tracking methods.