Session Title: Oceanic Flows Past Sea Mountains and Islands and Their Marine Environmental Impact

Session Description: Recent years have witnessed the increasing interests in understanding the oceanic currents past sea mountains and islands. Though there are significant differences between the flows past a sea mountain and an island given the wind field change and the lateral boundary presented around an island, there are similarities in flows past a sea mountain and an island when a sea mountain can be considered as a sunken island when a geostrophic constraint is applied. Eddy formation and evolution in the lee side of a sea mountain or an island have significant input into biological products and other environmental issues. Recent advances in remote sensing technologies help clarify the role of sea mountains and islands as generators of the mesoscale and sub-mesoscale variability in the ocean. Resolving sub-mesoscale eddy activities is a challenge to numerical modeling. Contributions to this session are welcome that deal with all aspects of the topic, for instance: physical mechanism of formation and development, eddy variability, flow instabilities involved, biological, geochemical and sediment transport processes relevant to sea mountain and islands. Both modeling and observational studies are encouraged, and studies of both the open ocean and coastal seas are encouraged.

Session Conveners: Changming Dong, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (cdong@atmos.ucla.edu), Christian Mohn, Martin Ryan Institute (Christian.mohn@nuigalway.ie) and Pablo Sangra, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (psangra@dfis.ulpgc.es)