Submarine Canyons

Landsat_Mackenzie

Numerical Modelling of Circulation and Upwelling in Mackenzie Canyon

  • Duration: September 2015 - April 2019
  • Role: Primary researcher, graduate student
  • Research Group: Mesoscale Ocean and Atmospheric Dynamics group at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Susan Allen (graduate supervisor and project director).
  • Project Objective: To investigate the physical mechanisms driving ocean circulation and upwelling in Mackenzie Canyon (a submarine canyon in the Arctic Ocean, offshore of the Yukon and Northwest Territories).
  • Project Approach:
    • Developed a computer model that simulates physical oceanographic conditions (water properties, such as salinity and temperature, and horizontal and vertical velocities of ocean currents) in Mackenzie Canyon and southeastern Beaufort Sea.
    • Designed case studies testing the effects of winds, regional topography, regional stratification, and model resolution on the simulated circulation and upwelling in the region.
    • Evaluated performance of computer model by comparing simulation results with ship-board, observational data.
    • Analyzed and presented model results using data science and data visualization techniques.

Accomplishments

Successfully completed the research project, including the development, implementation, and evaluation of an ocean circulation model. Advanced our scientific understanding of the physical dynamics governing ocean flows in submarine canyons and estimated the effects of upwelling on regional nutrient distribution.

Challenges

Managed "scope creep", a common challenge faced by early-career scientists conducting independent exploratory research, through critical evaluation and constant communication with graduate supervisor and thesis committee regarding project objectives.

Products

1. High-resolution, embedded-grid computer model of circulation in Mackenzie Canyon. 2. Realistic model results which could be used for further investigative work. 3. Graduate thesis documenting methodology, results, and implications of the project's findings. 4. Collaborations with researchers from other institutions. 5. In preparation - peer reviewed article for a scientific journal.

Skills

Project design and management. Development and application of computer models. Data analysis, interpretation, and visualization. Programming and debugging. Software troubleshooting. Technical documentation (progress reports, graduate thesis, lay summaries). Critical evaluation of scientific and technical literature. Public speaking. Creative problem solving. Graphic design. High stress tolerance and adaptability.

Software

Programming in Python, MATLAB, and FORTRAN. Version control using Mercurial with repositories on Bitbucket. Ocean modelling with NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean). Embedding of enhanced-resolution model grids with AGRIF (Adaptive Grid Refinement in Fortran) software. Investigation of coastal trapped waves with Bigr*.m Matlab software. Graphic design with Inkscape. Document preparation with LaTeX and Microsoft and Apple software.

Resources

Funding by NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) grants to Dr. Susan Allen. High capacity storage and compute resources for computationally intensive simulations by Compute Canada and WestGrid clusters. Computational processes on "Waterhole" workstations owned by supervisors of physical oceanography research groups in the Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences department at the University of British Columbia.