Professor Jinqiao Duan Wins NSF Grant to Develop a New Modeling Framework to Explore Small-Scale and Fast-Scale Geophysical Processes

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $500,000 collaborative grant to Professor Jinqiao "Jeffrey" Duan, Department of Applied Mathematics at IIT, along with researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Miami. The grant will fund the team's project, "A New Modeling Framework for Nonhydrostatic Simulations of Small-Scale Oceanic Processes." The ocean consists of layers of water masses with very little mixing across the layer interfaces. For the purposes of climate prediction, researchers are trying to recreate in laboratory models the small-scale oceanic processes that have much higher levels of vertical mixing than observed in the open ocean. But capturing such vertical mixing is challenging for the current ocean general circulation models, which rely on mathematical models and numerical resolutions unable to resolve these processes. More realistic representation of ocean physics in such models is urgently needed. Prof. Duan and his team propose to develop a new modeling framework based on modern multiscale turbulence modeling approaches, stochastic dynamical systems methods, and highly accurate numerical models. They will use a blend of mathematical, computational and geophysical expertise to solve the problem, and concurrently train students for research in interdisciplinary applied mathematics.