scholarly journals Drivers of the decadal variability of the North Ionian Gyre upper layer circulation during 1910–2010: a regional modelling study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feifei Liu ◽  
Uwe Mikolajewicz ◽  
Katharina D. Six
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
Sensitivity Experiment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The North ◽  
Upper Layer Circulation

AbstractA long simulation over the period 1901–2010 with an eddy-permitting ocean circulation model is used to study the variability of the upper layer circulation in the North Ionian Gyre (NIG) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMed). The model is driven by the atmospheric forcing from the twentieth century reanalysis data set ERA-20C, ensuring a consistent performance of the model over the entire simulation period. The main modes of variability known in the EMed, in particular the decadal reversals of the NIG upper layer circulation observed since the late 1980s are well reproduced. We find that the simulated NIG upper layer circulation prior to the observational period is characterized by long-lasting cyclonic phases with weak variability during years 1910–1940 and 1960–1985, while in the in-between period (1940–1960) quasi-decadal NIG circulation reversals occur with similar characteristics to those observed in the recent decades. Our simulation indicates that the NIG upper layer circulation is rather prone to the cyclonic mode with occasional kicks to the anticyclonic mode. The coherent variability of the NIG upper layer circulation mode and of the Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) outflow implies that atmospheric forcing triggering strong AdDW formation is required to kick the NIG into an anticyclonic circulation 1–2 years later. A sensitivity experiment mimicking a cold winter event over the Adriatic Sea supports this hypothesis. Our simulation shows that it is the multi-decadal variability of the salinity in the Adriatic Sea that leads to periods where low salinity prevents strong AdDW formation events. This explains the absence of quasi-decadal NIG reversals during 1910–1940 and 1960–1985.

scholarly journals A nested circulation model for the North Aegean Sea

Ocean Science ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Kourafalou ◽  
K. Tsiaras
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
The North ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
North Aegean ◽  
North Aegean Sea

Abstract. A multi-nested approach has been employed for numerical simulations in the northern part of the Aegean Sea in the framework of the MFSTEP (Mediterranean Forecast System: Toward Environmental Predictions) project. The high resolution (~1.6 km) hydrodynamic model of the North Aegean Sea (NAS) has been nested within a coarser model of the Eastern Mediterranean (resolution ~3.6 km) which is also nested within a basin scale model for the Mediterranean Sea (resolution of ~7 km). The high resolution of the NAS model allows the representation of topographic details that have never been reproduced in modelling studies of the region. Such details can enhance the simulation of coastal features, but can also influence basin-scale processes, such as the pathways of waters of Black Sea origin inflowing at the Dardanelles Straits and bifurcating through island passages. We employ comparisons of the North Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean models in terms of computed flow fields and distribution of hydrodynamic properties, to evaluate the nesting procedure, the initialization requirements and the ability of a nested model to perform reliable short term simulations that employ high resolution atmospheric forcing, when initialized from a coarser OGCM. We show that the topographic details of the high resolution, nested NAS model affect the distribution of the Dardanelles plume and the evolution of coastal currents, while the imposed high frequency, high resolution atmospheric forcing allows for the formation of an overall energetic flow field after a few days of spin-up period. Increased resolution and smaller coastal depth in the NAS simulations influence the flow through island passages and straits. A longer initialization procedure results in the establishment of stronger currents and better-developed buoyant plumes.

scholarly journals A nested circulation model for the North Aegean Sea

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. H. Kourafalou ◽  
K. P. Tsiaras
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
The North ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
North Aegean ◽  
North Aegean Sea

Abstract. A multi-nested approach has been employed for numerical simulations in the northern part of the Aegean Sea in the framework of the MFSTEP (Mediterranean Forecast System: Toward Environmental Predictions) project. The high resolution (~1.6 km) hydrodynamic model of the North Aegean Sea (NAS) has been nested within a coarser model of the Eastern Mediterranean (resolution ~3.6 km) which is also nested within a basin scale model for the Mediterranean Sea (resolution of ~7 km). The high resolution of the NAS model allows the representation of topographic details that have never been reproduced in modelling studies of the region. Such details can enhance the simulation of coastal features, but can also influence basin-scale processes, such as the pathways of waters of Black Sea origin inflowing at the Dardanelles Straits and bifurcating through island passages. We employ comparisons of the North Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean models in terms of computed flow fields and distribution of hydrodynamic properties, to evaluate the nesting procedure, the initialization requirements and the ability of a nested model to perform reliable short term simulations that employ high resolution atmospheric forcing, when initialized from a longer running coarser OGCM. We show that the topographic details of the high resolution, nested NAS model mostly affect the distribution of the Dardanelles plume, while the imposed high frequency, high resolution atmospheric forcing allows for the formation of an overall energetic flow field after a few days of spin-up period. A longer initialization procedure is suggested for the establishment of stronger currents and better developed buoyant plumes.

scholarly journals A one-way nested eddy resolving model of the Aegean and Levantine basins: implementation and climatological runs

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Korres ◽  
A. Lascaratos
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract. The present study deals with the implementation of an eddy resolving model of the Levantine and Aegean basins and its one-way nesting with a coarse resolution (1/8° × 1/8°) global Mediterranean general circulation model. The modelling effort is done within the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project as an initiative towards real-time forecasting within the eastern Mediterranean region. The performed climatological runs of the nested model have shown very promising results on the ability of the model to capture correctly the complex dynamics of the area and at the same time to demonstrate the skill and robustness of the nesting technique applied. A second aim of this study is to prepare a comprehensive climatological surface boundary conditions data set for the Mediterranean Sea. This data set has been developed within the framework of the same research project and is suitable for use in ocean circulation models of the Mediterranean Sea or parts of it. The computation is based on the ECMWF 6-h atmospheric parameters for the period 1979–1993 and a calibrated set of momentum and heat flux bulk formulae resulted from previous studies for the Mediterranean region. Key words. Oceanography: general (numerical modelling); physical (general circulation; air-sea interactions)

scholarly journals Qualified temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen climatologies in a changing Adriatic Sea

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-390
Author(s):  
M. Lipizer ◽  
E. Partescano ◽  
A. Rabitti ◽  
A. Giorgetti ◽  
A. Crise
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Synthetic Temperature ◽  
Oxygen Utilisation ◽  
Oxygen Minimum

Abstract. An updated climatology, based on a comprehensive dataset (1911–2009) of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, has been produced for the whole Adriatic Sea with the Variational Inverse Method using the DIVA software. Climatological maps were produced at 26 levels and validated with Ordinary Cross Validation and with real vs. synthetic Temperature–Salinity diagram intercomparison. The concept of Climatology–Observation Misfit (COM) has been introduced as an estimate of the physical variability associated with the climatological structures. In order to verify the temporal stability of the climatology, long-term variability has been investigated in the Mid Adriatic and the South Adriatic Pits, regarded as the most suitable records of possible long-term changes. Compared with previous climatologies, this study reveals a surface temperature rise (up to 2 °C), a clear deep dissolved oxygen minimum in the South Adriatic Gyre and a bottom summer oxygen minimum in the North Adriatic. Below 100 m all properties profoundly differ between the Middle and the South Adriatic. The South Adriatic Pit clearly shows the remote effects of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient, while no effect is observed in Middle Adriatic Pits. The deepest part of the South Adriatic seems now to be significantly saltier (+0.18 since the period 1911–1914, with an increase of +0.018 decade−1 since the late 1940s) and warmer (+0.54 °C since 1911–1914), even though a long-term temperature trend could not be statistically demonstrated. Conversely, the Middle Adriatic Pits present a long-term increase in apparent oxygen utilisation (+0.77 mL L−1 since 1911–1914, with a constant increase of +0.2 mL L−1 decade−1 after the 1970s).

HIDRA 1.0: Deep-Learning-Based Ensemble Sea Level Forecasting in the Northern Adriatic 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lojze Žust ◽  
Matjaž Ličer ◽  
Anja Fettich ◽  
Matej Kristan
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
Northern Adriatic

<p>Interactions between atmospheric forcing, topographic constraints to air and water flow, and resonant character of the basin make sea level modeling in Adriatic a challenging problem. In this study we present an ensemble deep-neural-network-based sea level forecasting method HIDRA, which outperforms our setup of the general ocean circulation model ensemble (NEMO v3.6) for all forecast lead times and at a minuscule fraction of the numerical cost (order of 2 × 10<sup>-6</sup>). HIDRA exhibits larger bias but lower RMSE than our setup of NEMO over most of the residual sea level bins. It introduces a trainable atmospheric spatial encoder and employs fusion of atmospheric and sea level features into a self-contained network which enables discriminative feature learning. HIDRA architecture building blocks are experimentally analyzed in detail and compared to alternative approaches. Results show the importance of sea level input for forecast lead times below 24 h and the importance of atmospheric input for longer lead times. The best performance is achieved by considering the input as the total sea level, split into disjoint sets of tidal and residual signals. This enables HIDRA to optimize the prediction fidelity with respect to atmospheric forcing while compensating for the errors in the tidal model. HIDRA is trained and analysed on a ten-year (2006-2016) timeseries of atmospheric surface fields from a single member of ECMWF atmospheric ensemble. In the testing phase, both HIDRA and NEMO ensemble systems are forced by the ECMWF atmospheric ensemble. Their performance is evaluated on a one-year (2019) hourly time series from tide gauge in Koper (Slovenia). Spectral and continuous wavelet analysis of the forecasts at the semi-diurnal frequency (12 h)<sup>-1</sup> and at the ground-state basin seiche frequency (21.5 h)<sup>-1</sup> is performed. The energy at the basin seiche in the HIDRA forecast is close to the observed, while our setup of NEMO underestimates it. Analyses of the January 2015 and November 2019 storm surges indicate that HIDRA has learned to mimic the timing and amplitude of basin seiches.</p>

Modelling the ocean circulation beneath the Ross Ice Shelf

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID M. HOLLAND ◽  
STANLEY S. JACOBS ◽  
ADRIAN JENKINS
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Ocean General Circulation Model ◽  
Shelf Water ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ross Ice Shelf ◽  
The North ◽  
Ice Shelf Water

We applied a modified version of the Miami isopycnic coordinate ocean general circulation model (MICOM) to the ocean cavity beneath the Ross Ice Shelf to investigate the circulation of ocean waters in the sub-ice shelf cavity, along with the melting and freezing regimes at the base of the ice shelf. Model passive tracers are utilized to highlight the pathways of waters entering and exiting the cavity, and output is compared with data taken in the cavity and along the ice shelf front. High Salinity Shelf Water on the western Ross Sea continental shelf flows into the cavity along the sea floor and is transformed into Ice Shelf Water upon contact with the ice shelf base. Ice Shelf Water flows out of the cavity mainly around 180°, but also further east and on the western side of McMurdo Sound, as observed. Active ventilation of the region near the ice shelf front is forced by seasonal variations in the density structure of the water column to the north, driving rapid melting. Circulation in the more isolated interior is weaker, leading to melting at deeper ice and refreezing beneath shallower ice. Net melting over the whole ice shelf base is lower than other estimates, but is likely to increase as additional forcings are added to the model.

Climatological Annual Cycle of the Salinity Budgets of the Subtropical Maxima

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 2981-2994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin K. Johnson ◽  
Frank O. Bryan ◽  
Semyon A. Grodsky ◽  
James A. Carton
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Salinity Gradient ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Diffusive Fluxes

AbstractSix subtropical salinity maxima (Smax) exist: two each in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean basins. The north Indian (NI) Smax lies in the Arabian Sea while the remaining five lie in the open ocean. The annual cycle of evaporation minus precipitation (E − P) flux over the Smax is asymmetric about the equator. Over the Northern Hemisphere Smax, the semiannual harmonic is dominant (peaking in local summer and winter), while over the Southern Hemisphere Smax, the annual harmonic is dominant (peaking in local winter). Regardless, the surface layer salinity for all six Smax reaches a maximum in local fall and minimum in local spring. This study uses a multidecade integration of an eddy-resolving ocean circulation model to compute salinity budgets for each of the six Smax. The NI Smax budget is dominated by eddy advection related to the evolution of the seasonal monsoon. The five open-ocean Smax budgets reveal a common annual cycle of vertical diffusive fluxes that peak in winter. These Smax have regions on their eastward and poleward edges in which the vertical salinity gradient is destabilizing. These destabilizing gradients, in conjunction with wintertime surface cooling, generate a gradually deepening wintertime mixed layer. The vertical salinity gradient sharpens at the base of the mixed layer, making the water column susceptible to salt finger convection and enhancing vertical diffusive salinity fluxes out of the Smax into the ocean interior. This process is also observed in Argo float profiles and is related to the formation regions of subtropical mode waters.

scholarly journals Arrival of the Fukushima radioactivity plume in North American continental waters

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 1310-1315 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Smith ◽  
Robin M. Brown ◽  
William J. Williams ◽  
Marie Robert ◽  
Richard Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North American ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Ocean Current ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Reactor Accident ◽  
Northwest Pacific Ocean ◽  
The North

The large discharge of radioactivity into the northwest Pacific Ocean from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor accident has generated considerable concern about the spread of this material across the ocean to North America. We report here the first systematic study to our knowledge of the transport of the Fukushima marine radioactivity signal to the eastern North Pacific. Time series measurements of 134Cs and 137Cs in seawater revealed the initial arrival of the Fukushima signal by ocean current transport at a location 1,500 km west of British Columbia, Canada, in June 2012, about 1.3 y after the accident. By June 2013, the Fukushima signal had spread onto the Canadian continental shelf, and by February 2014, it had increased to a value of 2 Bq/m3 throughout the upper 150 m of the water column, resulting in an overall doubling of the fallout background from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. Ocean circulation model estimates that are in reasonable agreement with our measured values indicate that future total levels of 137Cs (Fukushima-derived plus fallout 137Cs) off the North American coast will likely attain maximum values in the 3–5 Bq/m3 range by 2015–2016 before declining to levels closer to the fallout background of about 1 Bq/m3 by 2021. The increase in 137Cs levels in the eastern North Pacific from Fukushima inputs will probably return eastern North Pacific concentrations to the fallout levels that prevailed during the 1980s but does not represent a threat to human health or the environment.

scholarly journals Obstacles and benefits of the implementation of a reduced rank smoother with a high resolution model of the Atlantic ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1187-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Freychet ◽  
E. Cosme ◽  
P. Brasseur ◽  
J.-M. Brankart ◽  
E. Kpemlie
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Optimal Interpolation ◽  
The North ◽  
Observation Network ◽  
North Brazil ◽  
Resolution Model

Abstract. Most of oceanographic operational centers use three-dimensional data assimilation schemes to produce reanalyses. We investigate here the benefits of a smoother, i.e. a four-dimensional formulation of statistical assimilation. A square-root sequential smoother is implemented with a tropical Atlantic ocean circulation model. A simple twin experiment is performed to investigate its benefits, compared to its corresponding filter. Results show that the smoother leads to a better estimation of the ocean state, both on statistical (i.e. mean error level) and dynamical point of view. Smoothed states are more in phase with the dynamics of the reference state, an aspect that is nicely illustrated with the chaotic dynamics of the north-Brazil rings. We also show that the smoother efficiency is strongly related to the filter configuration. One of the main obstacles to implement the smoother is then to accurately estimate the error covariances of the filter. Considering this, benefits of the smoother are also investigated with a configuration close to situations that can be managed by operational centers systems, where covariances matrices are fixed (optimal interpolation). We define here a simplified smoother scheme, called half-fixed basis smoother, that could be implemented with current reanalysis schemes. Its main assumption is to neglect the propagation of the error covariances matrix, what leads to strongly reduce the cost of assimilation. Results illustrate the ability of this smoother to provide a solution more consistent with the dynamics, compared to the filter. The smoother is also able to produce analyses independently of the observation frequency, so the smoothed solution appears more continuous in time, especially in case of a low frenquency observation network.

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