Diagnosing and validating nonlinear internal wave processes in idealized, regional, and global ocean simulations

The Office of Naval Research awarded The University of Southern Mississippi $480,000 on October 1, 2025, under the Basic and Applied Scientific Research program (CFDA 12.300) to diagnose and validate nonlinear internal wave processes in idealized, regional, and global ocean simulations through September 30, 2028.

The award funds research comparing three-dimensional HYCOM ocean model velocities, sea surface elevations, and isopycnal displacements against in-situ measurements and satellite observations (SWOT data) to test global internal tide fields in operational HYCOM simulations. The work supports validation of model outputs needed to boundary-force regional models used by the Navy. Place of performance is Mississippi.

Two sub-recipients deliver complementary technical work. The University of Michigan (sub-award awarded November 20, 2025) funds a postdoctoral researcher under Principal Investigator Brian Arbic to perform comparisons of HYCOM velocities and sea surface heights to in-situ array measurements deployed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography collaborators, and to compare HYCOM internal tide signatures to SWOT observations across global coverage. The University of Minnesota (sub-award awarded November 12, 2025) funds researcher Kelly to run two-dimensional nonhydrostatic simulations, derive and test energy diagnostics in idealized settings, develop a coupled-mode Korteweg-de Vries model and global analytical estimate of topographic superharmonic generation, and support calculation and interpretation of energy diagnostics across regional simulations, global HYCOM, and observations.