Pressure-Resolved Thermoph -ysical and Vortex- Based Modelling of Extreme Deep-Sea Hydraulic Behaviour in the Mariana Trench Using Challenger Deep CTD Observations
Mariana Trench, Pressure-dependent modelling, Thermophysical properties, Random Vortex Method, Hadal hydrodynamics
AuthorsAbstractHadal trenches represent the most extreme pressure dominated ocean environments where seawater properties and flow behaviour are significantly different from shallow ocean assumptions. This study addresses the lack of integration of Mariana Trench CTD observations with pressure dependent thermophysical modelling and vortex based hydrodynamic simulation. We developed a reproducible computational framework using corrected. Mat based profile data from Challenger Deep and Challenger Deep East. Depth, pressure, temperature, and salinity were used to estimate density, dynamic viscosity, kinematic viscosity, compressibility, and hydrostatic stress, which were then simulated using the Random Vortex Method and statistical site comparison. The corrected profiles reached a depth of ~8895 m and a pressure of ~901 atm, confirming the scale of the trench. Pressure increased density strongly, viscosity was systematic with depth, compressibility had gradient-derived numerical sensitivity and hydrostatic stress increased monotonically through the water column. Vortex simulations show pressure conditioned particle dispersion and decay of kinetic energy. The study concludes that pressure-resolved thermophysical parameters are required for hadal hydrodynamic modelling. The main contribution of the paper is an integrated framework that links the measured trench profiles, estimation of seawater properties, hydrostatic stress, vortex diffusion and statistical analysis for modelling extreme deepocean flow.
Received-19-05-2026 Revised-22-06-2026 Accepted-26-06-2026
1. Introduction The hadal zone is one of the least accessible and most physically extreme regions of the global ocean, where hydrostatic pressure, low temperature, limited observational access, and complex trench morphology create conditions that differ substantially from upper-ocean and continental-slope environments [1]. Among these systems, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is well known as one of the deepest places on Earth and thus a natural reference site for the study of pressure-dominated oceanographic processes and the corresponding effects on fluid properties, transport behaviour and deep-ocean modelling [2]. The geometrical configuration of its seafloor is not a simple basin but a highly structured trench environment where bathymetric gradients and local morphological variability affect the interpretation of depth, pressure and spatially resolved oceanographic measurements [3]. Recent pressure-derived depth assessments [4] highlight the need for a physically consistent conversion between pressure, depth and water-column properties in the analysis of observations from the deepest ocean. Characterisation of deep-trench hydrodynamics is challenging due to •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ejprd.org- Published by Riset Publishing Services LLC.
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