In this project we explore how ‘tracers’ are transported by winds and currents in the Atmosphere and Ocean and how their dispersal depends on scale and Earth’s rotation – see intro.pdf and intro_slides.
Laboratory experiment: exploring the dispersion of plastics in the ocean.
We will use a laboratory analogue of the wind-driven ocean circulation to study how ocean currents carry and gather together discarded plastics in to particular regions of the ocean.
Observations: tracer transport in the atmosphere and ocean
We will explore tracer transport in the atmosphere by tracking particles, estimating speeds and scales, using EsGlobe, including, for example: dispersal of aerosols, satellite water vapor, trajectories of atmospheric balloons, as illustrated in the figure below.
