arXiv subjects

S. V. Prants

Publications and source records attributed to S. V. Prants.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Mesoscale circulation in the Alaskan Stream area

The Alaskan Stream is the northern boundary current in the subarctic North Pacific. This area is characterized by significant temperature, salinity and density differences between coastal and open-ocean waters and strong mesoscale dynamics. In this paper we demonstrate the transport pathways of Alaskan Stream water in the eastern subarctic Pacific and the eastern Bering Sea from October 1, 1994 to September 12, 2016 with the help of altimetry-based Lagrangian maps. A mesoscale eddy activity along the shelf-deep basin boundaries in the Alaskan Stream region and the eastern Bering Sea is shown to be related with the wind stress curl in the northern North Pacific in winter. A significant correlation is found between the concentration of chlorophyll a in the Alaskan Stream area and eastern Bering Sea in August - September and the wind stress curl in the northern North Pacific in November - March. The mesoscale dynamics, forced by the wind stress curl in winter, may determine not only lower-trophic-level organism biomass but also salmon abundance/catch in the study area.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2016

Mesoscale circulation along the Sakhalin Island eastern coast

The seasonal and interannual variability of mesoscale circulation along the eastern coast of the Sakhalin Island in the Okhotsk Sea is investigated using AVISO velocity field and oceanographic data for the period from 1993 to 2016. It is found that mesoscale cyclones with the horizontal dimension of about 100 km occur there predominantly during summer, whereas anticyclones occur predominantly during fall and winter. The cyclones are generated due to the coastal upwelling forced by northward winds and the positive wind stress curl along the Sakhalin coast. The anticyclones are formed due to an inflow of low-salinity Amur-River waters from the Sakhalin Gulf intensified by southward winds and the negative wind stress curl in the cold season. The mesoscale cyclones support the high biological productivity at the eastern Sakhalin shelf in July - August.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2015

Genealogical tree of Russian schools on Nonlinear Dynamics

One of the most prominent feature of research in Russia and the former Soviet Union is so-called scientific schools. It is a collaboration of researchers with a common scientific background working, as a rule, together in a specific city or even at an institution. The genealogical tree of scientific schools on nonlinear dynamics in Russia and the former Soviet Union is grown. We use these terminology in a broad sense including theory of dynamical systems and chaos and its applications in nonlinear physics. In most cases we connect two persons if one was an advisor of the Doctoral thesis of another one. It is an analogue of the Candidate of Science thesis in Russia. If the person had no official advisor or we don't know exactly who was an advisor, we fix that person who was known to be an informal teacher and has influenced on him/her very much.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2015

Chaotic Lagrangian transport and mixing in the ocean

Dynamical systems theory approach has been successfully used in physical oceanography for the last two decades to study mixing and transport of water masses in the ocean. The basic theoretical ideas have been borrowed from the phenomenon of chaotic advection in fluids, an analogue of dynamical Hamiltonian chaos in mechanics. The starting point for analysis is a velocity field obtained by this or that way. Being motivated by successful applications of that approach to simplified analytic models of geophysical fluid flows, researchers now work with satellite-derived velocity fields and outputs of sophisticated numerical models of ocean circulation. This review article gives an introduction to some of the basic concepts and methods used to study chaotic mixing and transport in the ocean and a brief overview of recent results with some practical applications of Lagrangian tools to monitor spreading of Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2014

Lagrangian study of temporal changes of a surface flow through the Kamchatka Strait

Using Lagrangian methods we analyze a 20-year-long estimate of water flux through the Kamchatka Strait in the northern North Pacific based on AVISO velocity field. It sheds new light on the flux pattern and its variability on annual and monthly time scales. Strong seasonality in surface outflow through the strait could be explained by temporal changes in the wind stress over the northern and western Bering Sea slopes. Interannual changes in a surface outflow through the Kamchatka Strait correlate significantly with the Near Strait inflow and Bering Strait outflow. Enhanced westward surface flow of the Alaskan Stream across the $174^\circ$ E section in the northern North Pacific is accompanied by an increased inflow into the Bering Sea through the Near Strait. In summer, the surface flow pattern in the Kamchatka Strait is determined by passage of anticyclonic and cyclonic mesoscale eddies. The wind stress over the Bering basin in winter - spring is responsible for eddy generation in the region.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2014

Role of mesoscale eddies in transport of Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes in the ocean

We present the results of in-situ measurements of $^{134}$Cs and $^{137}$Cs released from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) collected at surface and different depths in the western North Pacific in June and July 2012. It was found that 15 month after the incident concentrations of radiocesium in the Japan and Okhotsk seas were at background or slightly increased level, while they had increased values in the subarctic front area east of Japan. The highest concentrations of $^{134}$Cs and $^{137}$Cs up to 13.5 ${\pm}$ 0.9 and 22.7 ${\pm}$ 1.5 Bq m$^{-3}$ have been found to exceed ten times the background levels before the accident. Maximal content of radiocesium was observed within subsurface and intermediate water layers inside the cores of anticyclonic eddies (100 - 500 m). Even slightly increased content of radiocesium was found at some eddies at depth of 1000 m. It is expected that convergence and subduction of surface water inside eddies are main mechanisms of downward transport of radionuclides. In situ observations are compared with the results of simulated advection of these radioisotopes by the AVISO altimetric velocity field. Different Lagrangian diagnostics are used to reconstruct the history and origin of synthetic tracers imitating measured seawater samples collected in each of those eddies. The results of observations are consistent with the simulated results. It is shown that the tracers, simulating water samples with increased radioactivity to be measured in the cruise, really visited the areas with presumably high level of contamination. Fast water advection between anticyclonic eddies and convergence of surface water inside eddies make them responsible for spreading, accumulation and downward transport of cesium rich water to the intermediate depth in the frontal zone.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2014

Lagrangian analysis of the vertical structure of eddies simulated in the Japan Basin of the Japan/East Sea

The output from an eddy-resolved multi-layered circulation model is used to analyze the vertical structure of simulated deep-sea eddies in the Japan Basin of the Japan/East Sea constrained by bottom topography. We focus on Lagrangian analysis of anticyclonic eddies, generated in the model in a typical year approximately at the place of the mooring and the hydrographic sections, where such eddies have been regularly observed in different years (1993--1997, 1999--2001). Using a quasi-3D computation of the finite-time Lyapunov exponents and displacements for a large number of synthetic tracers in each depth layer, we demonstrate how the simulated feature evolves of the eddy, that does not reach the surface in summer, into a one reaching the surface in fall. This finding is confirmed by computing deformation of the model layers across the simulated eddy in zonal and meridional directions and in the corresponding temperature cross sections. Computed Lagrangian tracking maps allow to trace the origin and fate of water masses in different layers of the eddy. The results of simulation are compared with observed temperature zonal and meridional cross sections of a real anticyclonic eddy to be studied at that place during the oceanographic Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) hydrochemical survey in summer 1999. Both the simulated and observed eddies are shown to have the similar eddy core and the relief of layer interfaces and isotherms.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2013

Control of atomic transport using autoresonance

Dynamics of an atomic wavepacket in an optical superlattice is considered. We propose a simple scheme of wavepacket localization near the minima of the optical potential. In our approach, a wavelike perturbation caused by an additional lattice induces classical resonance which traps an atomic cloud. Adiabatic phase modulation of the perturbation slowly shifts resonance zone in phase space to the range of lower energies, retaining trapped atoms inside. This phenomenon is a kind of autoresonance. Quantum computations agree well with classical modelling.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2013

Lagrangian study of surface transport in the Kuroshio Extension area based on simulation of propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides

Lagrangian approach is applied to study near-surface large-scale transport in the Kuroshio Extension area using a simulation with synthetic particles advected by AVISO altimetric velocity field. A material line technique is applied to find the origin of water masses in cold-core cyclonic rings pinched off from the jet in summer 2011. Tracking and Lagrangian maps provide the evidence of cross-jet transport. Fukushima derived caesium isotopes are used as Lagrangian tracers to study transport and mixing in the area a few months after the March of 2011 tsunami that caused a heavy damage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant (FNPP). Tracking maps are computed to trace the origin of water parcels with measured levels of Cs-134 and Cs-137 concentrations collected in two R/V cruises in June and July 2011 in the large area of the Northwest Pacific. It is shown that Lagrangian simulation is useful to finding the surface areas that are potentially dangerous due to the risk of radioactive contamination. The results of simulation are supported by tracks of the surface drifters which were deployed in the area.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2013

Identifying Lagrangian fronts with favourable fishery conditions

Lagrangian fronts (LF) in the ocean delineate boundaries between surface waters with different Lagrangian properties. They can be accurately detected in a given velocity field by computing synoptic maps of the drift of synthetic tracers and other Lagrangian indicators. Using Russian ship's catch and location data for a number of commercial fishery seasons in the region of the northwest Pacific with one of the richest fishery in the world, it is shown statistically that the saury fishing grounds with maximal catches are not randomly distributed over the region but located mainly along those LFs where productive cold waters of the Oyashio Current, warmer waters of the southern branch of the Soya Current, and waters of warm-core Kuroshio rings converge. Computation of those fronts with the altimetric geostrophic velocity fields both in the years with the First and Second Oyashio Intrusions shows that in spite of different oceanographic conditions the LF locations may serve good indicators of potential fishing grounds. Possible reasons for saury aggregation near LFs are discussed. We propose a mechanism of effective export of nutrient rich waters based on stretching of material lines in the vicinity of hyperbolic objects in the ocean. The developed method, based on identifying LFs in any velocity fields, is quite general and may be applied to forecast potential fishing grounds for the other pelagic fishes in different seas and the oceans.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2013

Impact of mesoscale eddies on water transport between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea

Sea surface height anomalies observed by satellites in 1993--2012 are combined with simulation and observations by surface drifters and Argo floats to study water flow pattern in the Near Strait (NS) connected the Pacific Ocean with the Bering Sea. Daily Lagrangian latitudinal maps, computed with the AVISO surface velocity field, and calculation of the transport across the strait show that the flow through the NS is highly variable and controlled by mesoscale and submesoscale eddies in the area. On the seasonal scale, the flux through the western part of the NR is negatively correlated with the flux through its eastern part ($r=-0.93$). On the interannual time scale, a significant positive correlation ($r=0.72$) is diagnosed between the NS transport and the wind stress in winter. Increased southward component of the wind stress decreases the northward water transport through the strait. Positive wind stress curl over the strait area in winter--spring generates the cyclonic circulation and thereby enhances the southward flow in the western part ($r=-0.68$) and northward flow in the eastern part ($r=0.61$) of the NR. In fall, the water transport in different parts of the NS is determined by the strength of the anticyclonic mesoscale eddy located in the Alaskan Stream area.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2012

Hamiltonian chaos with a cold atom in an optical lattice

We consider a basic model of the lossless interaction between a moving two-level atom and a standing-wave single-mode laser field. Classical treatment of the translational atomic motion provides the semiclassical Hamilton-Schrodinger equations which are a 5D nonlinear dynamical system with two integrals of motion. The atomic dynamics can be regular or chaotic in dependence on values of the control parameters, the atom-field detuning and recoil frequency. We develop a semiclassical theory of the chaotic atomic transport in terms of a random walk of the atomic electric dipole moment $u$. Based on a jump-like behavior of this variable for atoms crossing nodes of the standing wave, we construct a stochastic map that specifies the center-of-mass motion. We find the relations between the detuning, recoil frequency and the atomic energy, under which atoms may move in a optical lattice in a chaotic way. We obtain the analytical conditions under which deterministic atomic transport has fractal properties and explain a hierarchical structure of the dynamical fractals. Quantum treatment of the atomic motion in a standing wave is studied in the dressed state picture where the atom moves in two optical potentials simultaneously. If the values of the detuning and a characteristic atomic frequency are of the same order, than there is a probability of nonadiabatic transitions of the atom upon crossing nodes of the standing wave. At the same condition exactly, we observe sudden jumps in the atomic dipole moment $u$ when the atom crosses the nodes. Those jumps are accompanied by splitting of atomic wave packets at the nodes. Such a proliferation of wave packets at the nodes of a standing wave is a manifestation of classical atomic chaotic transport. At large values of the detuning, the quantum evolution is shown to be adiabatic in accordance with a regular character of the classical atomic motion.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Nonadiabatic quantum chaos in atom optics

Coherent dynamics of atomic matter waves in a standing-wave laser field is studied. In the dressed-state picture, wave packets of ballistic two-level atoms propagate simultaneously in two optical potentials. The probability to make a transition from one potential to another one is maximal when centroids of wave packets cross the field nodes and is given by a simple formula with the single exponent, the Landau--Zener parameter $κ$. If $κ\gg 1$, the motion is essentially adiabatic. If $κ\ll 1$, it is (almost) resonant and periodic. If $κ\simeq 1$, atom makes nonadiabatic transitions with a splitting of its wave packet at each node and strong complexification of the wave function as compared to the two other cases. This effect is referred as nonadiabatic quantum chaos. Proliferation of wave packets at $κ\simeq 1$ is shown to be connected closely with chaotic center-of-mass motion in the semiclassical theory of point-like atoms with positive values of the maximal Lyapunov exponent. The quantum-classical correspondence established is justified by the fact that the Landau--Zener parameter $κ$ specifies the regime of the semiclassical dynamical chaos in the map simulating chaotic center-of-mass motion. Manifestations of nonadiabatic quantum chaos are found in the behavior of the momentum and position probabilities.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Chaotic walking and fractal scattering of atoms in a tilted optical lattice

Chaotic walking of cold atoms in a tilted optical lattice, created by two counter propagating running waves with an additional external field, is demonstrated theoretically and numerically in the semiclassical and Hamiltonian approximations. The effect consists in random-like changing the direction of atomic motion in a rigid lattice under the influence of a constant force due to a specific behavior of the atomic dipole-moment component that changes abruptly in a random-like manner while atoms cross standing-wave nodes. Chaotic walking generates a fractal-like scattering of atoms that manifests itself in a self-similar structure of the scattering function in the atom-field detuning, position and momentum spaces. The probability distribution function of the scattering time is shown to decay in a non-exponential way with a power-law tail.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Lagrangian tools to monitor transport and mixing in the ocean

We apply the Lagrangian approach to study surface transport and mixing in the ocean. New tools have been developed to track the motion of water masses, their origin and fate and to quantify transport and mixing. To illustrate the methods used we compute the Lagrangian synoptic maps a comparatively small marine bay, the Peter the Great Bay in the Japan Sea near Vladivostok city (Russia), and in a comparatively large region in the North Pacific, the Kuroshio Extension system. In the first case we use velocity data from a Japan Sea circulation numerical model and in the second one the velocity data are derived from satellite altimeter measurements of anomalies of the sea height distributed by AVISO.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2012

Chaotic scattering of atoms at a standing laser wave

Atoms, propagating across a detuned standing laser wave, can be scattered in a chaotic way even in the absence of spontaneous emission and any modulation of the laser field. Spontaneous emission masks the effect in some degree, but the Monte Carlo simulation shows that it can be observed in real experiments by the absorption imaging method or depositing atoms on a substrate. The effect of chaotic scattering is explained by a specific behavior of the dipole moments of atoms crossing the field nodes and is shown to depend strongly on the value of the atom-laser detuning.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Dynamical traps and chaotic advection in a meandering jet flow

We continue our study of chaotic mixing and transport of passive particles in a simple model of a meandering jet flow [Prants, et al, Chaos {\bf 16}, 033117 (2006)]. In the present paper we study and explain phenomenologically a connection between dynamical, topological, and statistical properties of chaotic mixing and transport in the model flow in terms of dynamical traps, singular zones in the phase space where particles may spend arbitrary long but finite time [Zaslavsky, Phys. D {\bf 168--169}, 292 (2002)]. The transport of passive particles is described in terms of lengths and durations of zonal flights which are events between two successive changes of sign of zonal velocity. Some peculiarities of the respective probability density functions for short flights are proven to be caused by the so-called rotational-islands traps connected with the boundaries of resonant islands (including those of the vortex cores) filled with the particles moving in the same frame. Whereas, the statistics of long flights can be explained by the influence of the so-called ballistic-islands traps filled with the particles moving from a frame to frame.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2012

Chaotic mixing and fractals in a geophysical jet current

We model Lagrangian lateral mixing and transport of passive scalars in meandering oceanic jet currents by two-dimensional advection equations with a kinematic stream function with a time-dependent amplitude of a meander imposed. The advection in such a model is known to be chaotic in a wide range of the meander's characteristics. We study chaotic transport in a stochastic layer and show that it is anomalous. The geometry of mixing is examined and shown to be fractal-like. The scattering characteristics (trapping time of advected particles and the number of their rotations around elliptical points) are found to have a hierarchical fractal structure as functions of initial particle's positions. A correspondence between the evolution of material lines in the flow and elements of the fractal is established.

nlin.CD↗