 Vortices in shear
flow
|
My research aims to quantify the mixing in
environmental
flows,
particularly those in
large lakes and the coastal ocean where
stratification and the Earth's rotation play a dominant role in the
dynamics. I study such mixing and
dispersion in both the field and the
laboratory.
Currently my main areas of research are in the study of turbidity
currents, density currents, double
diffusive convection, dispersion in
environmental flows and modeling of two dimensional turbulence. |
 Dispersion of
ballast water
|
I am looking for potential graduate
students with
interests
in physical limnology, coastal oceanography or fundamental fluid
dynamics. I currently have funding for a specific project on the
dispersion of aqautic invasive species, funded by the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species
Network. Here is a link to field work
conducted in
the summer of 2008 where we studied the dispersion of ballast water
from a large freight ship. Succesfuul graduate students
would need to be self motivated,
have an undergraduate background
in mathematics, physics, geology
or engineering, and have good communication skills.
Potential students would be enrolled in either
the Department of Geology,
Department of Geography , Department
of Physics or
the Centre of the
Environment at the University of Toronto. The
University of
Toronto has a respectable funding package for students (made up from a
central fund, grant support, and teaching assistantships). The start
date is typically August of each year. However, as the University of
Toronto now has only one intake time per year, it is essential that
interested students begin the application procedure prior to the end of
the previous year (November 2008).
Interested Masters and PhD students are encouraged to contact me
directly at wells@utsc.utoronto.ca
about potential research projects
for 2009.
-
Research opportunities also exist for undergraduates
through the
course EESD10Y3 Research
Project in Environmental Science. Undergraduate summer research
projects are also possible, and students are encouraged to apply for
the NSERC
Undergraduate Student Research Awards or the University
of Toronto Excellence Awards (UTEA) In the Natural Sciences and
Engineering.
Brief CV
1993 - 1996 Bachelor of Science - First Class
Honours
Australian National University
1997 - 2001 PhD in Geophysical
Fluid Dynamics, Research
School of Earth Sciences,
Australian
National University
2001 - 2002 Post Doctoral Fellow, Fluid
Dynamics Laboratory,
Department of Applied Physics,
Eindhoven
Technical University, The Netherlands
2003 - 2005 Research Associate, Department of Geology, Yale
University
Publications
2010
Cossu, R. & M.G. Wells. A comparison of the shear stress
distribution in the bottom boundary layer of experimental density and
turbidity currents. J.
Geophys. Res. (under review)
M.G. Wells & S. Parker. The thermal variability of the waters of
Fathom Five National Marine Park, Lake Huron. J. Great Lakes Res. (under review)
M.G. Wells, C. Cenedese & C.P. Caulfield. The relationship
between
flux coefficient \Gamma and entrainment ratio E in density currents. Journal of Physical Oceanography.
(under review)
L.A. Wyngaarden, K.M. Vogeli, B. Ciruna, T.P. Yamaguchi, D.Y.
Stainier,
G.R. Martin, M.G. Wells, A-K Hadjantonakis, S. Hopyan. Oriented cell
motility and division underlie early limb bud morphogenesis. Development (under review)
2009
M.G. Wells. How Coriolis
forces
can limit the spatial extent of
sediment deposition of a large-scale turbidity current. Sedimentary Geology, 218,
1-5 doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2009.04.011
M.G. Wells & P.
Nadarajah. The
intrusion depth of
density currents flowing into stratified water bodies. J. Phys. Oceanog. 39, 1935–1947.
M.G. Wells & L, Sealock, Summer Water Circulation in Frenchman's
Bay, a Shallow Coastal Embayment Connected to Lake Ontario, J Great Lakes Res,
doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2009.08.009
2008
M.G. Wells & J. S. Wettlaufer. The
circulation in Lake Vostok: A
laboratory analogue study. Geophys
Res Letts. 35,
L0350, doi:10.1029/2007GL032162
M.G.Wells, H.J.H Clercx & G.J.F. van Heijst, Mixing
and dispersion in laboratory experiments of forced 2D turbulence. in “Transport in Geophysical Flows".
Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol.
744 Weiss, J.B.
and Provenzale, A. (Eds.) pp
115-132
2007
M.G. Wells & J. S. Wettlaufer. The
long-term
circulation
driven by density currents in a two-layer stratified basin. J. Fluid Mech. 572, 37 - 58
M.G. Wells, H.J.H. Clercx, & G.J.F. van Heijst.
Vortices in
oscillating
spin-up. J.
Fluid Mech. 573, 339 -
369
(
Click here to
download
a movie of the laboratory
experiments and here to
download a movie
of
the numerical experiments )
M.G. Wells. Influence of
Coriolis forces on turbidity
currents and their
sediment patterns. Particle-laden
flow: from geophysical to
Kolmogorov scales. ERCOFTAC Series, 11, B.J. Geurts, H.
Clercx, and W. Uijttewaal (Eds.) pp. 331 –344.
2005
M.G. Wells & J. S. Wettlaufer.
Two
dimensional density currents in a confined basin Geophys.
Astro. Fluid Dyn. 99 , 199-218
H.J.H Clercx , G.J.F. van
Heijst, D. Molenaar & M.G.
Wells.
No slip
walls as a vorticity source in 2D bounded turbulence. Dyn.
Atmos. Oceans 40 3-21
2004
M.G. Wells & G.J.F. van Heijst, Dipole
formation by tidal flow in a channel in Shallows Flows.
Jirka, G.H. and Uijttewaal, W. (Eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam. pp.
63-70
S. Bryan, A. Cook, J. Evans, P. Colls, M.G. Wells,
M. Lawrence, J. Jell, A. Greig & R. Leslie. Pumice rafting and
faunal
dispersion during 2001-2002 in the Sothwest Pacific: record of a
dacitic
submarine explosive eruption from Tonga. Earth Planet.
Sci.
Letts.
227 135-154
2003
M.G.Wells & G.J.F. van Heijst. A
model of
tidal flushing of an estuary by dipole formation Dyn.
Atmos. Oceans. 37 223-244
M.G.Wells & R.W Griffiths The
interaction
of
salt finger convection with intermittent turbulence. J.
Geophys.
Res. 108 (C3) 10.1029/2002JC001427
2002
M.G.Wells & R.W Griffiths
Localized
stirring in a
field of salt fingers Dyn. Atmos. Oceans. 35 (4):
327-350
2001
M.G.Wells & B. Sherman Stratification
produced by surface cooling in lakes with significant shallow
regions
J. Limn. and Ocean. 46, 1747-1759
M.G Wells., R. W. Griffiths, & J. S. Turner,
Generation of
density fine structure by salt fingers in a spatially periodic shear.
J.
Geophys. Res. 106, 7027 - 7037.
M.G. Wells
Convection,
turbulent mixing and salt fingers. Ph.D. Thesis, Australian
National University.
1999
M.G. Wells, R.W. Griffiths & J.S. Turner, Competition
between distributed and localised buoyancy fluxes in a confined volume.
J. Fluid Mech. 391, 319 - 336.
1998
A.M. Leitch, G.F. Davies & M.G. Wells, A
plume head
melting
under a rifting margin. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 161,
161-177.
