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Kial Stewart PhD Candidate Research School of Earth Sciences The Australian National University Canberra , ACT 0200, Australia T: +61 2 6125 9961 F: +61 2 6257 2737 E: kial.stewart@anu.edu.au

Publications: Stewart, K. D., G. O. Hughes, and R. W. Griffiths (2011), When do marginal seas and topographic sills modify the ocean density structure?, J. Geophys. Res., 116, C08021, doi:10.1029/2011JC006980.

Research Interests:

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I am interested in buoyancy-driven flows, particularly those relevant to the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the oceans. My approach makes use of idealised laboratory experiments and numerical simulations to gain insight into the governing dynamics the MOC.

The Effect on Mixing on the MOC

Mixing is known to play an important role in the meridional overturning circulation of the ocean, but detailed understanding of the coupling between the two is yet to emerge. We investigate this coupling through idealized laboratory experiments with a convective overturning driven by a salt flux and mixed by horizontal rods yo-yoed through the water column. The video links below show the equilibrated circulations

  Salt-driven Overturning Circulation                                        Salt-driven Overturning Circulation with Mixing

The Effect of Topography on the MOC

We use idealized laboratory models of the ocean to investigate the effect of high-latitude marginal seas; specifically, what conditions will result in a marginal sea exerting a global influence on the oceans? Shown here are the "polar" ends of laboratory models of the ocean with and without a high-latitude marginal sea.