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At least 253 records · Page 14

Power output of turbines mounted on tension-leg platforms subjected to fully developed ocean gravity waves

A concern in the deployment of large wind turbines on ocean floating platforms is the effect of floating-platform motions on their electrical power generation. Further, it is not clear how floating motions influence waking, which might affect the combined power generation of collections of turbines. We examine the average power output of a single and a collection of NREL 5 MW wind turbines mounted on a tension-leg platform (TLP) under the action of fully developed ocean wave motions, coupling floating motions with the large-eddy simulation (LES) of atmospheric and rotor dynamics. The ocean dynamics enter as fully developed waves derived from the Pierson–Moskowitz spectrum. To assess the influence of ocean motions, we performed simulations over the full range of wind speeds in the operational range of the turbine, reporting comparisons of average power output when the platforms are allowed to move to when they are held rigidly in place. In all simulations, we find that the effects of the TLP floating-platform's induced motions have a minor effect on single and multiple turbine power production and wake deficits. Even when using coherent and large amplitude harmonic-floating-induced perturbations, any significant wake modifications from floating motions are confined to the near-wake region, where downstream turbines are unlikely to be located. The relatively small amplitude of TLP motions relative to pre-existing turbulent fluctuations are the primary reason for low wake and power modifications downstream.

Restrepo, Juan [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000326092882)↗

Distributed Embedded Energy Converters for Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting: Enabling a Domain of Transformative Technologies: Preprint

Distributed embedded energy conversion technology (DEEC-Tec) is a very promising - but underdeveloped - domain in marine renewable energy research. The technology utilizes small distributed embedded energy converters (DEECs) that, in aggregate, form a much larger energy harvesting-converting structure. Each DEEC is a small transducer - an individual mechanism that converts one form of energy into another. A transducer's specific mode of operation can be based upon any number of physical phenomena, including variable capacitance, variable magnetic fields, or piezoelectrics. It is the dynamic deformation of a structure made from such DEECs (a DEEC-Tec structure) that provides the needed physical phenomena (the external energy source) for the underlying transducers to intake and convert energy into another form, such as electricity. DEEC-Tec structures designed specifically to dynamically deform in the presence of ocean wave energy - for the purpose of harvesting and converting that energy - can be called flexWECs. A flexWEC's gross shape (topology) and its compliant characteristics (morphologies) are chiefly determined by how the DEECs making up its structure are arranged and implemented. In turn, those corresponding topologies and morphologies will largely determine how a flexWEC interacts with - and dynamically deforms within - the presence of ocean wave energy. FlexWECs appear to have many attractive features, including broad-banded ocean energy conversion, in situ energy conversion throughout an entire flexWEC structure, inherent redundancy, and appealing material and manufacturing costs. To this end, the design and development of any particular flexWEC or flexWEC feature is a revolutionary opportunity for how we conceptualize and envision the future of ocean wave energy conversion.

50 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Water (EE-4↗

Distributed Embedded Energy Converters for Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting: Enabling a Domain of Transformative Flexible Technologies

Distributed embedded energy conversion technology (DEEC-Tec) is a very promising - but underdeveloped - domain in marine renewable energy research. The technology utilizes small distributed embedded energy converters (DEECs) that, in aggregate, form a much larger energy harvesting-converting structure. Each DEEC is a small transducer - an individual mechanism that converts one form of energy into another. A transducer's specific mode of operation can be based upon any number of physical phenomena, including variable capacitance, variable magnetic fields, or piezoelectrics. It is the dynamic deformation of a structure made from such DEECs (a DEEC-Tec structure) that provides the needed physical phenomena (the external energy source) for the underlying transducers to intake and convert energy into another form, such as electricity. DEEC-Tec structures designed specifically to dynamically deform in the presence of ocean wave energy - for the purpose of harvesting and converting that energy - can be called flexWECs. A flexWEC's gross shape (topology) and its compliant characteristics (morphologies) are chiefly determined by how the DEECs making up its structure are arranged and implemented. In turn, those corresponding topologies and morphologies will largely determine how a flexWEC interacts with - and dynamically deforms within - the presence of ocean wave energy. FlexWECs appear to have many attractive features, including broad-banded ocean energy conversion, in situ energy conversion throughout an entire flexWEC structure, inherent redundancy, and appealing material and manufacturing costs. To this end, the design and development of any particular flexWEC or flexWEC feature is a revolutionary opportunity for how we conceptualize and envision the future of ocean wave energy conversion.

DEEC↗

Large-Amplitude Motion Platform: A New Ocean Simulator Can Help Technologies Succeed

Offshore renewable energy technologies - like wave energy devices, wind turbines, floating solar panels, and hybrid systems - can help decarbonize our power grids as well as offshore activities like international shipping and seafood farming. But it's not always easy to build technologies hearty enough to operate in a powerful ocean environment. And subjecting promising prototypes to real ocean waves can be an expensive, time-consuming, and risky way to get these technologies ready for the high seas. Now, with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) new testing platform, called the large-amplitude motion platform (or LAMP for short), our experts can replicate powerful ocean waves in a low-risk laboratory setting. The LAMP, coupled with NREL's diverse array of testing instrumentation, can help technology developers rapidly hone their prototypes before embarking on a potentially costly and time-consuming ocean trial.

marine energy↗

Large-Amplitude Motion Platform: A New Ocean Simulator Can Help Technologies Succeed

It's not always easy to build technologies hearty enough to operate in a powerful ocean environment. And subjecting promising prototypes to real ocean waves can be an expensive, time-consuming, and risky way to get these technologies ready for the high seas. Now, with the National Laboratory of the Rockies' (NLR's) testing platform, called the large-amplitude motion platform (or LAMP for short): www.nlr.gov/water/motion-platform, our experts can replicate powerful ocean waves in a low-risk laboratory setting. The LAMP, coupled with NLR's diverse array of testing instrumentation, can help technology developers rapidly hone their prototypes before embarking on a potentially costly and time-consuming ocean trial.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Water Mass Transformation Budgets in Finite‐Volume Generalized Vertical Coordinate Ocean Models

Water Mass Transformation (WMT) theory provides conceptual tools that in principle enable innovative analyses of numerical ocean models; in practice, however, these methods can be challenging to implement and interpret, and therefore remain under-utilized. Our aim is to demonstrate the feasibility of diagnosing all terms in the water mass budget and to exemplify their usefulness for scientific inquiry and model development by quantitatively relating water mass changes, overturning circulations, boundary fluxes, and interior mixing. We begin with a pedagogical derivation of key results of classical WMT theory. We then describe best practices for diagnosing each of the water mass budget terms from the output of Finite-Volume Generalized Vertical Coordinate (FV-GVC) ocean models, including the identification of a non-negligible remainder term as the spurious numerical mixing due to advection scheme discretization errors. We illustrate key aspects of the methodology through the analysis of a polygonal region of the Greater Baltic Sea in a regional demonstration simulation using the Modular Ocean Model v6 (MOM6). We verify the convergence of our WMT diagnostics by brute-force, comparing time-averaged (“offline”) diagnostics on various vertical grids to timestep-averaged (“online”) diagnostics on the native model grid. Finally, we briefly describe a stack of xarray-enabled Python packages for evaluating WMT budgets in FV-GVC models (culminating in the new xwmb package), which is intended to be model-agnostic and available for community use and development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A New Theoretical Framework for Parameterizing Nonequilibrium Fractionation During Evaporation From the Ocean

The evaporation model for water isotopes proposed by Craig and Gordon (1965, https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6wIKAQAAIAAJ) is used in most isotope-enabled atmospheric models for the parameterization of nonequilibrium fractionation during evaporation from the ocean. In this model, one of the most uncertain parameters is the nonequilibrium fractionation factor 𝛼 𝑘 . Many isotope models use the formulation of Merlivat and Jouzel (1979, https://doi.org/10.1029/jc084ic08p05029), which parameterizes 𝛼 𝑘 as a function of wind speed and distinguishes between a smooth and a rough regime to account for the effect of ocean waves. The resulting discontinuity in 𝛼 𝑘 between smooth and rough regimes has been disputed by several empirical studies. Here, we present a new approach to parameterizing 𝛼𝑘 by explicitly accounting for the influence of wave drag on the momentum flux near the surface. Following Cifuentes-Lorenzen et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-018-0376-0), we add a third wave-induced component to the total momentum flux, in addition to the viscous and turbulent components, and extend the definition of the eddy viscosity to account for the momentum flux due to waves and turbulent dissipation near the surface. The new scheme predicts a slight decrease of 𝛼 𝑘 with wind speed, similar to the smooth-regime parameterization of Merlivat and Jouzel (1979, https://doi.org/10.1029/jc084ic08p05029). This new parameterization is incorporated into the isotope-enabled Community Atmosphere Model, where it improves the correlation of simulated and measured vapor deuterium excess relative to the default version and a version with constant 𝛼 𝑘 , suggesting that it may be used as a valid representation of fractionation during evaporation from the ocean in future isotope models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

The influence of variability in meridional over turning on global ocean circulation

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning circulation (AMOC) is an important global scale circulation and changes in AMOC can induce significant regional and global climate impacts. In this work, we study the stability of AMOC and its influence on global ocean circulation and the surface climate though analyzing a set of sensitivity experiments using the Community Climate System Model version 1 (CESM1). Results show that a collapsed AMOC can induce changes in global ocean circulation, such as reduced (or reversed) Bering Strait transport, weakened Indonesia throughflow and Agulhas current, but strengthened Drake Passage transport. It also changes the global wind pattern and surface temperature, such as a seesaw-like surface temperature change between Northern and Southern Hemispheres, a weakening of Indian-Australia summer monsoon, a southward shift of the Southern ocean westerlies, etc. We also found that AMOC and the Pacific deep meridional overturning circulation (or PMOC) do not form a natural seesaw under modern day climate and geography. A collapsed AMOC (active PMOC) is not stable under modern conditions if there is no additional freshwater (salt) input in the subpolar North Atlantic (Pacific), suggesting that the modern mean state of AMOC (PMOC) does not depend on local haline forcing although its variability and changes do.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Improving tide-estuary representation in MPAS-Ocean (Final Report)

The overarching goal of this research is to produce a skill-assessed tide-estuary representation, including BGC (biogeochemistry) components of the ecosystem, into the MPAS-O global climate modeling system. Specifically, in the original proposal we proposed one-way nesting, into global MPAS-O, of a high-resolution model for TES (tidal and estuary systems) including the coupling of the BGC components. We have completed the proposed tasks during the past 4 years. Specifically, after extensive consultation with the MPAS-O group during the first year, we have decided to go beyond the original proposal and to two-way nest SCHISM into MPAS-O. As a result, SCHISM-CoSiNE (with CoSiNE being the BGC model) is now fully integrated into MPAS-O as a subroutine (more precisely, an analysis member) and can be invoked as MPAS-O is running with two-way exchange of information between the TES and global models (with proper spatial interpolation done on the fly). As originally proposed, we have also developed the new finite-volume (FV) model MPAS-OI (aka ELCIRC-sub) for TES. We have conducted several tests using the coupled MPAS-SCHISM- CoSiNE model and also MPAS-OI for Columbia River, San Francisco Bay and Chesapeake Bay. Four journal publications have been produced so far as the result of the project and 1 is under review (cf. Publication section). With these achievements, we will be ready to conduct fully coupled simulations of TES and global ocean anywhere, as soon as some missing capabilities in MPAS-O (e.g. tides, improved ability to handle the boundary conditions, and streamlining of the global BGC model) are worked out. The significance of the outcome of this project cannot be overstated. It marks the first time, as far as we know, that a global climate model is tightly coupled to a bona fide nearshore and terrestrial model (SCHISM system); in fact SCHISM is the first bona fide compound flooding model that seamlessly covers the coastal ocean, estuaries, rivers and watersheds (Ye et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020). The coupled model will reduce the errors and uncertainties of the MPAS-O global climate model system. It also complements and extends on-going E3SM project, as the latter seeks in the long-term to include components required to simulate impacts of sea-level change and storm surge on coastal regions, including wave models and focusing resolution in coastal and storm-track regions, as an important component of the Cryosphere-ocean system. Note that a spectral wave model (the unstructured-grid version of Wave Watch III, aka Wind Wave Model) is already incorporated inside the SCHISM system and is therefore directly accessible in the coupled system.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Impacts of Mean State Ocean Heat Transport on Climate and Its Response to CO 2 Forcing

Simulations of the slab ocean configuration of the coupled Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) were used to isolate the role of poleward ocean heat transport (OHT) in shaping the climate and its response to CO 2 forcing. Imposed changes to mean-state OHT produce compensating changes in atmospheric heat transport (AHT) that are mediated by changes in surface evaporation. A reduction of maximum OHT by 0.56 PW (32%) reduces the global mean surface air temperature by 3.6°C. However, this cooler mean state exhibits 1.2°C more warming under CO 2 quadrupling, with the largest differences occurring at high latitudes. The amplified warming arises from stronger surface albedo and lapse rate feedbacks in polar regions and a shortwave cloud feedback in the southern midlatitudes. These results highlight the critical role of mean-state OHT in modulating mean-state climate, the partitioning between the OHT and AHT, and climate sensitivity.

Atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions↗

Polar primary aerosols across the ocean-sea ice-snow-atmosphere interface: From sources to impacts

Primary aerosols play a critical role in polar climate systems, influencing cloud formation, precipitation, radiative balance, and surface energy budgets. This paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of primary aerosol sources, transformation and removal processes, and broader atmospheric impacts in polar regions, emphasizing their links to ocean and sea ice biogeochemistry. These aerosols (including sea salt, primary organic aerosol, and primary biological aerosol particles) originate from marine and cryospheric environments and are emitted through physical processes, such as wave breaking, bubble bursting, and blowing snow. Emission sources include seawater, sea ice, snow, and freshwater from river discharge and glacial runoff. Once airborne, these particles can serve as a chemical reservoir, influencing atmospheric composition and reactivity, and as seeds for cloud droplet and ice crystal formation, influencing cloud microphysics and polar climate. Despite their importance, many of the processes governing primary aerosol emissions and transformations remain poorly constrained. The most pressing knowledge gaps pertain to emission processes, limited spatiotemporal observational coverage, instrumentation constraints, parameterization development, and the integration of interdisciplinary expertise. To improve our understanding of primary aerosol drivers and their response to climate, future research efforts should prioritize strategically coordinated and cross-disciplinary process studies, advancements in measurement technologies and coverage, and close collaboration between modelers and observational scientists to inform and refine model parameterizations. As polar regions continue to undergo profound changes marked by increased precipitation, reduced sea and land ice, freshening oceans, and shifting ecosystem dynamics, characterizing present-day primary aerosol populations is vital. Improved understanding will be essential for anticipating future changes in aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions and their implications for polar and global climate systems.

Aerosol-cloud↗

New Record Ocean Temperatures and Related Climate Indicators in 2023

The global physical and biogeochemical environment has been substantially altered in response to increased atmospheric greenhouse gases from human activities. In 2023, the sea surface temperature (SST) and upper 2000 m ocean heat content (OHC) reached record highs. The 0–2000 m OHC in 2023 exceeded that of 2022 by 15 ± 10 ZJ (1 Zetta Joules = 10 21 Joules) (updated IAP/CAS data); 9 ± 5 ZJ (NCEI/NOAA data). The Tropical Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and southern oceans recorded their highest OHC observed since the 1950s. Associated with the onset of a strong El Niño, the global SST reached its record high in 2023 with an annual mean of ~0.23°C higher than 2022 and an astounding > 0.3°C above 2022 values for the second half of 2023. The density stratification and spatial temperature inhomogeneity indexes reached their highest values in 2023.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A regional (land–ocean) comparison of the seasonal to decadal variability of the Northern Hemisphere jet stream 1871–2011

Seasonal to decadal variations in Northern Hemisphere jet stream latitude and speed over land (Eurasia, North America) and oceanic (North Atlantic, North Pacific) regions are presented for the period 1871–2011 from the Twentieth Century Reanalysis dataset. Significant regional differences are seen on seasonal to decadal timescales. Seasonally, the jet latitude range is lower over the oceans compared to land, reduced from 20° over Eurasia to 10° over the North Atlantic where the ocean meridional heat transport is greatest. The mean jet latitude range is at a minimum in winter (DJF), particularly along the western boundary of the North Pacific and North Atlantic, where the land-sea contrast and SST gradients are strongest. The 141-year trends in jet latitude and speed show differences on a regional basis. The North Atlantic has significant increasing jet latitude trends in all seasons, up to 3° in winter. Eurasia has significant increasing trends in winter and summer, however, no increase is seen across the North Pacific or North America. Jet speed shows significant increases evident in winter (up to 4.7 ms –1 ), spring and autumn over the North Atlantic, Eurasia and North America however, over the North Pacific no increase is observed. Long term trends are generally overlaid by multidecadal variability, particularly evident in the North Pacific, where 20-year variability in jet latitude and jet speed are seen, associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation which explains 50% of the winter variance in jet latitude since 1940. The results highlight that northern hemisphere jet variability and trends differ on a regional basis (North Atlantic, North Pacific, Eurasia and North America) on seasonal to decadal timescales, suggesting that different mechanisms are influencing the jet latitude and speed. This is important from a climate modelling perspective and for climate predictions in the near and longer term.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Hydrodynamic characterization of the coastal pioneer array ocean observing system

Ocean observation buoys require relatively small amounts of power, yet traditionally necessitate costly resupply trips for battery replacement. With the offshore location of the buoys and small power requirements, wave energy may be an effective solution for providing consistent and reliable power to support the buoy instrumentation. The US National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) includes arrays of point absorber-like buoy systems used for ocean observation that have been deployed at multiple locations including the Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight. A study is currently underway to design a pitch resonator wave energy converter to supplement existing renewable energy generation for powering observation instrumentation. This paper details field measurements from surface moorings of the OOI Coastal Pioneer Array, which informs the subsequent development of a numerical model for the moored observation system. The model is developed in Wave Energy Converter Simulator (WEC-Sim), which leverages the Simscape multibody solver within the MATLAB/Simulink framework and linear potential flow theory to simulate the hydrodynamic interactions and multibody dynamics in 6 degrees of freedom. Multiple tuning variables are considered to produce a model for the system that matches well with empirical data (about 8% error). In conclusion, the WEC-Sim model will serve as a platform for integrating the pitch resonator wave energy converter concept and deployment preparation (detailed design including power take-off and control systems, response evaluation, etc.).

hydrodynamic modeling↗

Self-powered ocean buoy using a disk-type triboelectric nanogenerator with a mechanical frequency regulator

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) systems have been demonstrated to generate power with high density. However, the electrical output power obtained from wave energy harvesting using TENG systems is typically limited to several milliwatts. To address this limitation and support various ocean buoy systems, an efficient method to scale-up TENG systems is required. In this paper, we present a self-powered ocean buoy (SPOB) incorporating a disk-type, soft-contact, mechanical frequency regulator TENG (DSMFR-TENG). The mechanical frequency regulator (MFR) enables the conversion of low-frequency wave energy to high-speed mechanical rotation, facilitating high power generation with the disk-type TENG. Here, the SPOB was tested in a wave tank, reaching a peak power output of 470 mW and an average power output of 130 mW after the MFR released the rotational energy. To further enhance the functionality of the buoy, the DSMFR-TENG and a microcontroller, temperature sensor, and acoustic transmitter were integrated with the SPOB. The acoustic transmitter successfully transmitted signals 7, 23, and 30 times over a one-minute period at wave frequencies of 0.33 Hz, 0.5 Hz, and 1 Hz, respectively, thereby demonstrating the power supply capability of the TENG system for ocean buoys.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Resource assessment of ocean thermal energy conversion in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

Island communities often struggle to establish and maintain traditional electric grids and are therefore heavily reliant on costly imported fossil fuels. In the case of Puerto Rico, these challenges are enhanced by extreme weather and other natural hazards that threaten the local electricity generation and transmission infrastructure. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) could play an important role in establishing a more resilient electrical grid in the region. Here, in this study, a detailed analysis is conducted to characterize the ocean thermal resource and power potential of OTEC in Puerto Rico based on a 14-year dataset of modeled ocean temperature. The assessment considers seasonal and interannual variability in the region's thermal resource and examines the operational limitations associated with minimal thermal gradients required to run a typical OTEC heat engine. Notably, the local thermal resource is found to be sensitive to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate patterns, with La Niña conditions linked to greater OTEC power availability. Seven areas of opportunity are identified based on their resource potential and proximity to existing electrical distribution lines, including two that could benefit the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands. The greatest OTEC power potential is observed to the south of the main island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea with an estimated capacity of 138 MW for a plant pumping cold water from a depth of 1,000 m, or the equivalent amount of electricity required to power 219,000 households.

OTEC↗

Insights into the year-round vertical distribution of chlorophyll concentration in high-latitude Arctic Ocean: implications for primary production

Climate-induced rapid changes in the Arctic Ocean, such as decreasing sea ice extent and increasing water temperature, are altering nutrient and light availability, profoundly impacting primary producer growth. However, access to the high-latitude Arctic Ocean is limited, and satellite data are primarily available only during summer, making continuous in-situ data collection challenging. We collected year-round chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration data in high-latitude regions using a mooring system and performed a comparative analysis with reanalysis data. Unlike previous satellite-based studies, which typically rely on surface measurements, we used the annual vertical distribution of Chl-a. These data were applied to the vertically generalized production model to accurately estimate annual primary production. The moored Chl-a concentration data showed that phytoplankton exhibited a typical subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) layer as sea ice retreated in June. Contrary to the gradually deepening SCM distribution predicted by model-based reanalysis data, the SCM layer persisted for approximately 4 months. This indicates that light and nutrient conditions within the SCM layer remained stable, sustaining continuous phytoplankton growth. Annual primary production, reflecting this vertical distribution of Chl-a concentration, was 6.85 gC m −2 yr −1 . This exceeded satellite-based estimates by at least two-fold, highlighting the significant underestimation of primary production by satellite approaches. Estimating primary production while accounting for the vertical distribution of phytoplankton and light is essential for improving ecological models to better understand carbon cycle and food web changes in the Arctic Ocean, with important implications for climate change predictions.

Arctic Ocean↗

Influence of the Indian Ocean Dipole on the large-scale circulation in South America

The influence of each phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on the largescale circulation in South America is investigated using rainfall observations, fully-coupled, large-ensemble, historical simulations (LENS), and forced experiments using the coupled model’s atmospheric component. IOD events often occur when El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the largest source of interannual variability of precipitation in South America, is active. To distinguish from effects of ENSO, only cases during neutral ENSO conditions are analyzed in LENS and observations. During the positive IOD polarity, a perturbation in the localWalker circulation leads to increased convection over equatorial South America, resulting in wet anomalies in the Amazon basin. This signal is the opposite of what is expected during El Niño events. Tropical convection anomalies in the Indian Ocean also force an extratropical Rossby wave train that reaches subtropical South America. During positive IOD, the moisture flux from the Amazon to central and southeastern Brazil weakens, resulting in a drying of the area associated with the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. Meanwhile, the South Atlantic Subtropical High strengthens, contributing to a drying in southeastern Brazil. During negative IOD, the induced wave train from the Indian Ocean leads to increased moisture transport to the La Plata basin, leading to wet anomalies in the region.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗