On 27 May, Dr Annalisa Bracco, Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and CLIVAR SSG member, presented a talk on “Mesoscale and Submesoscale Processes: Observations and Modeling” to FIO staff and students.  She highlighted the importance of ocean submesoscale turbulence in dissipating the incoming energy in the ocean, something that is not well represented in climate models.  She also noted that climate models do not in general capture the observed transmission of carbon from the upper ocean to the deep ocean and that turbulence generated in mesoscale eddies through submesoscale processes and the associated vertical velocities might be an important mechanism. 

Recently much of Dr Bracco’s research has been directed at explaining the distribution patterns of surface pollutants, for instance after the major oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico.  Her work has also provided insight into the reasons for observed patterns of sargassum weed drifting on the ocean surface and for sea-ice melt patterns.