Internal waves play an important role in the dynamics of much of the world’s ocean. This is especially true for many parts of the nearshore coastal ocean, where internal waves, often generated tidally can have amplitudes that are comparable to the local depth. Consequently, local stratification and flow structure and strength, and hence turbulent mixing and dispersion, can be strongly shaped by what are often remotely generated internal waves.
Steve Monismith,
Stanford University
In this talk, I will show results from field experiments examining (a) turbulent mixing driven by breaking internal waves; (b) horizontal shear flow dispersion associated with internal waves; and (c) the important role that cross-shore internal waves can have in modulating longshore flows through kelp forests like those that exist along much of the coast of California. Thus, I will argue that in order to predict transport important to practical concerns such as management of coastal water quality or of coastal fisheries, the sources and behavior of internal waves must be included in our circulation models.
California native Stephen Monismith, the Obayashi Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Oceans at Stanford University, received all his degrees (in Civil Engineering) from UC Berkeley. Following completion of his thesis, he did a postdoc in Western Australia focusing on the fluid mechanics of stratified flows in lakes. He has been at Stanford in the Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering since 1987, and was department chair between 2009 and 2016.
His research is focused on estuarine and lake physics, as well as nearshore flows with waves and stratification, focusing on mixing and transport processes that are central to ecology, biogeochemistry and environmental management. Through his work on estuarine dynamics, he has been active in San Francisco Bay-Delta issues, including helping to develop the scientific underpinnings of freshwater flow regulations.
In recent years, much of his effort has focused on the physics of coral reef flows, with fieldwork and modeling carried out on reefs in the Red Sea, and in nearshore waters of Hawaii, Moorea, Palmyra Atoll, American Samoa, and Palau. He has parallel interests studying the inner shelf flows found near and inside the (much colder) kelp forests of California. He is a fellow of the Fluid Dynamics division of the American Physical Society and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.