Hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics

HYDRO_DAY

Current velocity during day-time. The units of current vector scale, and that of the current speed contour are m/s.

 

Hydrodynamics formulation building and numerical modelling for visualisation are recent technological capabilities that have grown with the increasing processing power of modern computers. Hydrodynamic modelling allows us to better understand how the ocean is driven by temperature, salinity and pressure changes, atmospheric exchanges, and interactions with the seafloor.

The numerical model depicts processes of the physical ocean such as current flow, waves, and particle tracking. It can also be used for the calculations and depictions of sediment transport, water quality and ecosystems changes in spatial and temporal dimensions. Numerical models allow us to also simulate at appropriate scales whether small, medium or large, in order to achieve greater accuracy in how the environment is represented. Regions of smaller extents of coastal ocean (30 km – 40 km) such as populated areas of Kingston Harbour and Montego Bay, as well as the protected area of Portland Bight, can now be depicted at greater scale and resolution to see finer-scale interactions of the ocean dynamics on shorelines, infrastructure and the environment.

 

HYDRO_NIGHT-compressor

Current velocity during night-time. The units of current vector scale, and that of the current speed contour are m/s.