Convection is an important, but poorly understood oceanic process. In the North Atlantic Ocean, convection plays a crucial role in water-mass transport and circulation. Near the Antarctic margins, convection diverts heat away from the melting Antarctic ice shelves by transporting cold and salty water from the ocean surface to depth. A high-resolution numerical approach is used to improve our understanding of the role of convection, supported by insights from observations and model parameterisations. 

Research grants: ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) on “Resolving ocean convection: new knowledge for a changing Antarctica” (Dr Catherine A. Vreugdenhil)

Selected papers: Vreugdenhil et al. JGR: Oceans 2016, Vreugdenhil et al. JFM 2019, Sohail et al. JGR: Oceans 2019, Vreugdenhil & Gayen Fluids 2021, Bennetts, Shakespeare, Vreugdenhil et al. RoG (In Review)

Collaborators: A/Prof. Bishakhdatta Gayen (UMelb), Prof. Ross Griffiths (ANU), Dr Taimoor Sohail (UNSW), Prof. Andy Hogg (ANU)

Ocean-driven melting of ice shelves around Antarctica has implications for rising sea levels and changing climate. However, the picture of ocean-driven melting is incomplete. The mixing of warm, salty water towards the ice base drives melting, but the resulting meltwater freshens the water column leading to stabilisation of stratification (if the ice shelf is horizontal) or plume formation (if the ice shelf is sloped). Here we investigate ocean-driven melting using numerical simulations that resolve all but the smallest scales of turbulence.

Research grants: ARC Discovery Project on "The basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves" (Associate Professor Bishakhdatta Gayen, Dr Catherine A. Vreugdenhil,  Associate Professor Jimmy Philip)

Selected papers: Vreugdenhil & Taylor JPO 2019, Vreugdenhil et al. JPO 2022, Patmore et al. JPO 2023, Wilson et al. GRL 2023

Collaborators: Prof. John Taylor (University of Cambridge), Dr Leo Middleton (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Dr Paul Holland, Dr Keith Nicholls and Dr Peter Davis (British Antarctic Survey), Prof. Adrian Jenkins (Northumbria University), Dr Ryan Patmore (University of Reading)

Buoyancy-driven flows and stratified flows have many important applications in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics and Oceanography, and more broadly in Science and Engineering. I have a general interest in buoyancy-affected flows and rotating flows. My research includes how we can better understand these flows, model them numerically and consider tracer movement within the flow. 

Selected papers: Vreugdenhil et al. JPO 2016, Vreugdenhil et al. Phys. Fluids 2018, Taylor et al. JPO 2020

Collaborators: Prof. John Taylor (University of Cambridge), Dr Katherine Smith (LANL), Prof. Graham Hughes (Imperial College London)