At the Sea of Galilee, oceanographer Ayal Anis, a professor of marine science at Texas A&M University at Galveston, has conducted extensive research on the way in which energy is transferred from the air to the water through surface waves. The research is expected to ultimately assist oceanographers in accurately predicting the current flows and temperatures in the world?s oceans, which will further assist in weather prediction.
Anis? research, funded by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the US Office of Naval Research, has revealed that the most intense transfer of energy to the water occurs at the shore and not at the center of the lake. The transfer occurs through the increased internal wave activity near the shore and intense turbulence on the surface combining to transfer energy to lower depths of the body of water. ??it is extremely important to get the energy mixing component of the model right. If our understanding of this part is wrong, the models we construct will produce unreliable predictions,? explains Anis in a Texas A&M press release, ?In addition? turbulence and mixing processes may have a pronounced effect on the development of juvenile fish through predator-prey interactions: when turbulence is intense we may expect a higher success rate for the predator to encounter prey.?
Anis? research, funded by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the US Office of Naval Research, has revealed that the most intense transfer of energy to the water occurs at the shore and not at the center of the lake. The transfer occurs through the increased internal wave activity near the shore and intense turbulence on the surface combining to transfer energy to lower depths of the body of water. ??it is extremely important to get the energy mixing component of the model right. If our understanding of this part is wrong, the models we construct will produce unreliable predictions,? explains Anis in a Texas A&M press release, ?In addition? turbulence and mixing processes may have a pronounced effect on the development of juvenile fish through predator-prey interactions: when turbulence is intense we may expect a higher success rate for the predator to encounter prey.?