Special talk on "Intriguing fluid mechanics in the Manihiki atoll"
Event details
| Date | 04.07.2017 |
| Hour | 11:00 › 12:00 |
| Speaker |
Short biography: Dr Peter Nielsen’s research record has placed him firmly as a world leader in the field of coastal sediment transport. This is shown most simply by the fact that he is the most cited Coastal Engineering researcher in Australia, and within the top handful in the world. In the year 2008 his 1st authored works were cited 105 times by other researchers. Nielsen is the author of the worlds most cited reference book on coastal sediment transport: Nielsen, P (1992): Coastal bottom boundary layers and sediment transport. World Scientific, Singapore, 324pp. In addition, Nielsen’s work on coastal groundwater dynamics since 1988, contains some milestone papers, e g, Nielsen, P (1990): Tidal dynamics of the watertable in beaches. Water Resources Research, Vol 26 No 9, pp 2127-2135. Reprinted in full in Water resources Journal of the United Nations Econ & Soc Comm for Asia and the Pacific, Dec 1990, pp 35-43. Cited 161 times by other authors by the end of 2011. Other important research areas include Coastal Hazards such as wave runup and rip currents; Wave theory, particularly long waves including tsunami and storm surges; The motion of suspended particles and bubbles, Fundamentals of turbulent mixing; and most recently wind-driven waves. |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
The Manihiki atoll has since 1972 been the source of arguably the worlds’ finest pearls.
In response to a letter of concern about declining water quality, the Coastal Group in UQ’s School of Civil Engineering has conducted hydrodynamics and water quality studies in this very remote lagoon since 2004. Most recently, June-July 2016, where the focus was the formation of toxic (H2S-rich) bottom water, which poses a threat to the ecosystem in general, and in particular to the islands only cash crop: The pearls.
The talk will cover:
- a general introduction to this very remote and ‘true South pacific’ atoll
- our findings about the flushing mechanisms for the lagoon, which, surprisingly to most, is driven by the waves not by the tide.
- Recent observations of the strong stratification in the 70m deep lagoon, which currently displays a +1kg/m3 sharp density increase at 50m depth.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ECOL and EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. D. Andrew Barry, ECOL