Publications

Saberi, A., Haine, T. W. N., Gelderloos, R., Femke de Jong, M., Furey, H., & Bower, A. (2020). Lagrangian Perspective on the Origins of Denmark Strait Overflow, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50(8), 2393-2414, DOI. Read key results from the drop down.

This work added to our understanding of the origins, pathways, and evolution of dense water overflowing from Denmark Strait. Parts of this work were presented at International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) in 2019 and at Ocean Science Meeting in 2020. See the supplementary animation. Here are the main conclusions:

    1. We found new pathways to the North Atlantic Deep Waters (NADW) from south of the strait.

    2. These new sub-surface pathways transform the Irminger current to the dense overflow rapidly (3 months), especially in winter time.

    3. The combination of backtracking and along-track water mass analysis can locate the water mass transformation sites continuously along the pathways.

Saberi, A., Weaver, R.J., 2016. Simulating tidal flushing response to the construction of a low-crested weir connecting Port Canaveral to the Banana River, Florida. J. Waterw. Port, Coast. Ocean Eng. 142 (4), DOI. Read key results from the drop down.

For this study, we used ADCIRC (ADvanced CIRCulation) hydrodynamics model (forced by wind and tide, or wind and wave in different case studies) coupled with Lagrangian particle tracking technique to estimate the transport time scales such as residence time for Indian River Lagoon (IRL), an endangered estuary along the central east coast of Florida. The ultimate goal of the project was to understand the impact of constructing a low crested weir on the residence time. For the result analysis, we used streaklines, and pathlines to find the circulation patterns and locations of high mixing. Another simulation we used was the storm surge hindcast of Hurricane Sandy.

Conference Presentations

  • Oral Presentation at ASOF meeting | September 2020 | Virtual at Iceland.

Saberi, A., Haine, T. W. N., Gelderloos, R., Femke de Jong, M., Furey, H., & Bower, A. Lagrangian Analysis of the DSO origin.

  • Oral Presentation at Ocean Sciences | February 2020 | San Diego, USA.

Saberi, A., Haine, T. W. N., Gelderloos, R., Femke de Jong, M., Furey, H., & Bower, A. Lagrangian Perspective on the Origins of Denmark Strait Overflow

  • Poster at IUGG conference | July 2019 | Montreal, CA.

A. Saberi, T. Haine, & R. Gelderloos. The Origins of the DSO.

  • Oral Presentation at AMS | January 2016 | New Orleans, USA.

Atousa Saberi, R. J. Weaver, S. M. Lazarus, M. E. Splitt, J. Holman,B. P. and Colvin. Effect of Wind Reduction Factors on Forecasting Circulation in an Estuary.

  • Poster at AGU Fall Meeting | December 2015 | San Francisco, USA.

A. Saberi, R. J. Weaver, Modeling the effect of Causeways on Circulation in the Banana River.

Media

One of my PhD projects:

The animation below is from Saberi et. al. (2020) representing pathways of the dense overflows at the Denmark Strait as they approach the strait from the north and the south, and then continue southward. The Lagrangian trajectories are integrated backward in time but are animated forward in time. Top time stamp is number of days away from the strait, and second time stamp refers to current simulation time. The trajectories are color coded based on their origin to north (N), south and shallow approaching along Iceland shelf (ISh), south and deep (S). The animation takes about a minute to load below.

All trajectories meet at the black section where Denmark Strait is located.

This poster was presented at IUGG conference in July 2019. I am describing to the audience that the trajectories are approaching the strait not only from the north but also from the south!

Master's research project:

The picture below is from Saberi et. al. (2016). Lack of direct connection between the lagoon and the ocean results in limited circulation, long residence time and poor water quality in the Indian River Lagoon. The Existence of the causeways limits the circulation even more. The narrow raised pathway section of the causeways acts as a plate that diverts the flow and generates eddies downstream which traps the particles in the vicinity of the causeways and increases their residence time in the lagoon.

Velocity field in Banana River Lagoon, FL.

Uniform flow normal to a plate at Re=0.334. Reference: Album of Fluid Motion.

OpenFOAM simulation of flow past a cylinder

I love to simulate moving objects in fluids! Just to educate myself, I used OpenFOAM to perform some basic CFD test cases. The animation shows changes in the velocity field when the flow passes an oscillating cylinder. Parameters: Reynolds number=200, free stream velocity= 2 m/s, cylinder diameter=1 m, cylinder's rotational speed= 1.256 rad/s.

Bachelor's research project

My undergraduate thesis was on fluid-structure interaction using ANSYS. I modeled an oscillatory plate as a simplified model of a wing’s flapping motion, and learned about the aerodynamics forces on the wing. The picture below shows the flow velocity field in one of the time instances. See the vortex formation at the tip of the plate!