THE GIFT OF PERCEIVING THE PHYSICS OF A NATURAL PHENOMENON: SELECTED FINDINGS OF IRINA CHUBARENKO

Abstract

The paper reviews the principal scientific results of Irina Chubarenko in the field of the physics of natural water bodies. Her studies of horizontal convection over underwater slopes, cascading and convective upwelling, the seasonal thermal front of the Baltic Sea, formation of the cold intermediate layer, lagoon hydrodynamics, Langmuir circulation, suspended-particle transport, and the effects of ice formation on water exchange are considered as interconnected manifestations of a common physical approach. Its central feature was the transition from an observed natural phenomenon to identification of the physical mechanism responsible for it, followed by verification using field observations, laboratory experiments, and numerical modelling, and finally by analysis of the consequences of this mechanism at larger spatial and temporal scales. Particular attention is given to horizontal convective water exchange generated by spatially heterogeneous surface heat fluxes and manifested as downslope cascading, convective upwelling, and thermal fronts. Laboratory studies of the thermal bar and horizontal exchange across its front are considered together with the application of the slope-convection concept to the formation of the Baltic Sea cold intermediate layer. Lagoon studies demonstrate how shallowwater dynamics controls water exchange, Langmuir circulation, and suspended-particle transport, including interactions between particles and frazil ice. The role of ice formation as a source of negative buoyancy and a factor controlling seasonal changes in density structure and water exchange is also discussed. The methodological unity of Irina Chubarenko’s research, aimed at developing a physical understanding of processes in natural water bodies, is discussed.