Shuwen Tan

Shuwen Tan
University of California, Irvine | UCI

PhD in Physical Oceanography

About

13
Publications
4,366
Reads
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155
Citations
Introduction
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC, Irvine. In the past, I was heavily engaged in developing rotating hydraulic theories and interpreting observations of deep (water depth >2000 m sometimes >5000 m) ocean sill overflows. My project at UCI, however, focuses on exciting behaviors of nonlinear waves approaching an island (Dongsha Atoll, 2 m ~ 600 m) using modeling approaches. So I'm currently transitioning from an observationalist to a modeler and happy to continue playing with waves.
Additional affiliations
April 2021 - December 2022
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Position
  • PostDoc Position
Education
September 2017 - September 2019
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Field of study
  • Physical Oceanography
September 2014 - July 2020
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Field of study
  • Physical Oceanography
September 2010 - July 2014
Ocean University of China
Field of study
  • Marine Science

Publications

Publications (13)
Article
Full-text available
Plain Language Summary Cold and dense Antarctica Bottom Water (AABW) forms near the coastline of Antarctica, sinks to the ocean bottom, moves northward in deep branches of the Meridional Overturning Circulation, becomes lighter through mixing, and eventually upwells to shallower depths. The AABW properties change under the changing climate. Repeat...
Article
The energy and momentum balance of an abyssal overflow across a major sill in the Samoan Passage is estimated from two highly resolved towed sections, set 16 months apart, and results from a two-dimensional numerical simulation. Driven by the density anomaly across the sill, the flow is relatively steady. The system gains energy from divergence of...
Article
Full-text available
The Indonesian Throughflow plays an important role in the global ocean circulation and climate. Existing studies of the Indonesian Throughflow have focused on the Makassar Strait and the exit straits, where the upper thermocline currents carry North Pacific waters to the Indian Ocean. Here we show, using mooring observations, that a previous unknow...
Article
Full-text available
When a fluid stream in a conduit splits in order to pass around an obstruction, it is possible that one branch will be critically controlled while the other remains not so. This is apparently the situation in Pacific Ocean abyssal circulation, where most of the northward flow of Antarctic bottom water passes through the Samoan Passage, where it is...
Article
Full-text available
The structure and variations of the North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) in the far western Pacific Ocean during 2014-2016 are investigated using repeated in-situ hydrographic data, altimeter data, Argo data, and reanalysis data. The NECC shifted ~1 degree southward and intensified significantly with its transport exceeding 40 Sv (1 Sv = 10 ⁶ m...
Article
Full-text available
Hydrographic measurements recently acquired along the thalweg of the Lifamatola Passage combined with historical moored velocity measurements immediately downstream of the sill are used to study the hydraulics, transport, mixing, and entrainment in the dense overflow. The observations suggest that the mean overflow is nearly critical at the mooring...
Article
Full-text available
Intermediate-depth intraseasonal variability (ISV) at 20-90-day period, as detected in velocity measurements from seven subsurface moorings in the tropical western Pacific, is interpreted in terms of equatorial Rossby waves. The moorings were deployed between 0° and 7.5°N along 142°E from September 2014 to October 2015. The strongest ISV energy at...
Article
Abyssal waters forming the lower limb of the global overturning circulation flow through the Samoan Passage and are modified by intense mixing. Thorpe-scale-based estimates of dissipation from moored profilers deployed on top of two sills for 17 months reveal that turbulence is continuously generated in the passage. Overturns were observed in a den...
Article
Full-text available
The main source feeding the abyssal circulation of the North Pacific is the deep, northward flow of 5–6 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 10 ⁶ m ³ s ⁻¹ ) through the Samoan Passage. A recent field campaign has shown that this flow is hydraulically controlled and that it experiences hydraulic jumps accompanied by strong mixing and dissipation concentrated near...
Article
Full-text available
This study investigates the interannual variations in the North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) associated with the eastern Pacific and the central Pacific types of El Niño. Using observational analysis and ocean simulations, we show that the wind stress anomalies during the two El Niño types are of comparable amplitude but have different spatial...
Article
Full-text available
The Maluku Channel is a major opening of the eastern Indonesian Seas to the western Pacific Ocean, the upper-ocean currents of which have rarely been observed historically. During December 2012-November 2016, long time series of the upper Maluku Channel transport are measured successfully for the first time using subsurface oceanic moorings. The me...

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