The source-sink flow in a rotating system and its oceanic analogy

1971 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-Hsiung Kuo ◽  
George Veronis
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Circulation Pattern ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Outer Wall ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Shaped Container ◽  
Laboratory Analogue ◽  
Source Sink

Laboratory analogues of theoretical models of wind-driven ocean circulation are based on ideas presented by Stommel (1957). A particularly simple demonstration of the applicability of these ideas is contained in a paper by Stommel, Arons & Faller (1958). The present work develops the source-sink laboratory analogue of ocean circulation models to a point where chosen parametric values allow one to simulate the theoretical models of Stommel (1948) and Munk (1950) exactly. The investigation of the flow in a rotating cylinder generated by a source of fluid near the outer wall leads to a detailed description of the roles of the various boundary layers which occur. This knowledge is used to analyse the more complex source-sink flow in a pie-shaped basin. The laboratory analogue to the Stommel circulation model is analyzed in detail. It is shown that the change in the flow pattern brought about by a radial variation of the position of the eastern boundary in the pie-shaped basin is confined to the interior flow and the boundary layer is largely unaffected. When the bottom of the pie-shaped container slopes, the circulation pattern is changed significantly. For the particular case treated, the depth of the basin along the western boundary is unchanged and the maximum depth occurs at the southeast corner. The circulation generated by a source introduced at the apex of the pie has a gyre whose centre is shifted more toward the southwest corner than the corresponding centre of the gyre for a flat-bottomed basin. Two experiments are reported showing that the western boundary may separate because of the effect of bottom topography or because of the pressure of a cyclonic and an anti-cyclonic gyre generated by suitably placed sources and sinks.

Nonlinear source-sink flow in a rotating pie-shaped basin

1972 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Veronis And ◽  
C. C. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Nonlinear Effects ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Layer Region ◽  
Laboratory Analogue ◽  
Source Sink ◽  
Semicircular Cross Section

Source-sink flows in a rotating pie-shaped basin provide a laboratory analogue of wind-driven ocean circulation (Stommel, Arons & Faller 1958). Experiments and theory are presented here for flows which are mildly nonlinear. Theory and experiment show satisfactory agreement for the intense flow in the western boundary-layer region which contains the strongest nonlinear effects. The strengths of the sources and sinks were increased in the experiments in an attempt to induce an instability in the western boundary layer. However, the western boundary layer was always stable, even for relatively large Rossby numbers. Photographs from experiments with a basin of semicircular cross-section show the difference between eastern and western boundary layers in a striking manner.

Evaluating Effects of Observational Data Assimilation in General Ocean Circulation Model by Ensemble Kalman Filtering: Numerical Experiments with Synthetic Observations

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-66
Author(s):  
V. N. Stepanov ◽  
◽  
Yu. D. Resnyanskii ◽  
B. S. Strukov ◽  
A. A. Zelen’ko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Numerical Experiments ◽  
Turbulent Viscosity ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Global Ocean

The quality of simulation of model fields is analyzed depending on the assimilation of various types of data using the PDAF software product assimilating synthetic data into the NEMO global ocean model. Several numerical experiments are performed to simulate the ocean–sea ice system. Initially, free model was run with different values of the coefficients of horizontal turbulent viscosity and diffusion, but with the same atmospheric forcing. The model output obtained with higher values of these coefficients was used to determine the first guess fields in subsequent experiments with data assimilation, while the model results with lower values of the coefficients were assumed to be true states, and a part of these results was used as synthetic observations. The results are analyzed that are assimilation of various types of observational data using the Kalman filter included through the PDAF to the NEMO model with real bottom topography. It is shown that a degree of improving model fields in the process of data assimilation is highly dependent on the structure of data at the input of the assimilation procedure.

Water circulation in the Firth of Forth, Scotland

1987 ◽  
Vol 93 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 273-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. P. G. Dyke
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Circulation Pattern ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
The North ◽  
Open Sea ◽  
River Outflow ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Firth Of Forth ◽  
Wind Driven Currents

SynopsisThe Firth of Forth, in terms of physical oceanography, is part of the North Sea. The general circulation pattern in the firth must be regarded as largely speculative. There have been insufficient measurements of insufficient quality, and what evidence exists leads to the view that what circulation there is, is sluggish and varies from season to season and from year to year.A description is given of the three principal mechanisms that contribute to circulation. Tides, due initially to astronomical forces, manifest themselves in the Firth of Forth through the rise and fall of the adjacent open sea. This rise and fall, periodic in mid ocean, is no longer strictly so in the firth and neither are the tidal currents. The wind-driven currents in the sea are influenced by the earth's rotation. In the Firth of Forth, some of this influence is retained. Naturally, wind-driven currents are larger near the surface. Finally, when water of different densities meets, overturning causes convection currents. All of these effects are present to some extent in the Firth of Forth. In addition, specific account has to be taken of complicated coastal and bottom topography and river outflow. Some attempt to bring together these effects and available measurements is made in this paper. Lastly, several theoretical models are proposed which account for the magnitudes and directions of the observed steady circulation. Mathematical details are given in appendices.

Ship Motion Instabilities in Coastal Regions

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray-Qing Lin ◽  
Weijia Kuang
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Wind Waves ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Wave Interaction ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Wave Model ◽  
Ship Motion ◽  
Ship Motions ◽  
Coastal Regions

Ship motion instabilities occur much more frequently in coastal regions than in the deep ocean because both nonlinear wave-wave interactions and wave-current interactions increase significantly as the water depth decreases. This is particularly significant in the coastal regions connecting to the open ocean, since the wave resonant interactions change from the four-equivalent-wave interaction in deep water to the interactions of three local wind waves with a long wave (e.g. swell, edge waves, bottom topography waves, etc.) in shallow water [1, 2], resulting in rapid growth of the incoming long waves. In this study, we use our DiSSEL (Digital, Self-consistent, Ship Experimental Laboratory) Ship Motion Model [3,4,5,6] coupled with our Coastal Wave Model [1,2,11] and an Ocean Circulation Model [7] to simulate strongly nonlinear ship motions in coastal regions, focusing on the ship motion instabilities arising from ship body-surface wave-current interactions.

Recent Changes in the Pacific Subtropical Cells Inferred from an Eddy-Resolving Ocean Circulation Model*

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1340-1356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Michael J. McPhaden ◽  
Dongxiao Zhang ◽  
E. Joseph Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Control Volume ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Ocean General Circulation Model ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Equatorial Undercurrent ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
The Pacific

Abstract In this study the subtropical cells (STC) in the Pacific Ocean are analyzed using an eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model driven by atmospheric forcing for the years 1992–2003. In particular, the authors seek to identify decadal changes in the STCs in the model and to compare them with observations in order to understand the consequences of such changes for the equatorial ocean heat and mass budgets. The simulation shows a trend toward increasing pycnocline volume transport at 9°N and 9°S across the basin from 1992 to 2003. This increase [4.9 ± 1.0 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1)] is in qualitative agreement with observations and is attributed primarily to changes in the interior ocean transport, which are partially compensated by opposing western boundary transports. The subtropical meridional volume transport convergence anomalies in the model pycnocline are found to be consistent with anomalous volume transports in both the observed and modeled Equatorial Undercurrent, as well as with the magnitude of simulated anomalous upwelling transport at the base of the mixed layer in the eastern Pacific. As a result of the increased circulation intensity, heat transport divergence through the lateral boundaries of the tropical control volume (defined as the region between 9°N and 9°S, and from the surface to σθ = 25.3 isopycnal) increases, leading to a cooling of the tropical upper ocean despite the fact that net surface heat flux into the control volume has increased in the same time. As such, these results suggest that wind-driven changes in ocean transports associated with the subtropical cells play a central role in regulating tropical Pacific climate variability on decadal time scales.

scholarly journals A coarse resolution North Atlantic ocean circulation model: an intercomparison study with a paleoceanographic example

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Seidov ◽  
Ralf Prien
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
Freshwater Flux ◽  
Surface Boundary

Abstract. Paleoreconstructions suggest that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the North Atlantic circulation was noticeably different from its present state. However, the glacial salt conveyor belt is believed to be similar to the present-day's conveyor, albeit weaker and shallower because of an increased freshwater flux in high-latitudes. We present here the investigation of the conveyor operation based on ocean circulation modelling using two numerical models in parallel. The GFDL primitive equation model and a planetary geostrophic model are employed to address the problem of the paleocirculation modelling in cases of uncertain and sparse data comprising the glacial surface boundary conditions. The role of different simplifications that may be used in the ocean climate studies, including the role of grid resolution, bottom topography, coast-line, etc., versus glacial-interglacial changes of the ocean surface climatology is considered. The LGM reverse conveyor gyre appeared to be the most noticeable feature of the glacial-to-interglacial alteration of the ocean circulation. The reversed upper-ocean conveyor, weaker and subducting 'normal' conveyor in the intermediate depths, and the change of the deep-ocean return flow route are robust signatures of the glacial North Atlantic climate. The results are found to be 'model-independent' and fairly insensitive to all factors other than the onset of the glacial surface conditions.

Modelling Nd-isotopes with a coarse resolution ocean circulation model: Sensitivities to model parameters and source/sink distributions

2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (20) ◽  
pp. 5927-5950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Rempfer ◽  
Thomas F. Stocker ◽  
Fortunat Joos ◽  
Jean-Claude Dutay ◽  
Mark Siddall
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ocean Circulation Model ◽  
Nd Isotopes ◽  
Coarse Resolution ◽  
Source Sink

scholarly journals The Atlantic Subtropical Front/Current Systems of Azores and St. Helena

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 2573-2598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela F. Juliano ◽  
Mário L. G. R. Alves
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Subtropical Front ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Current Systems

Abstract A large-scale climatic ocean circulation model was used to study the Atlantic Ocean circulation. This inverse model is an extension of the β-spiral formulation presented in papers by Stommel and Schott with a more complete version of the vorticity equation, including relative vorticity in addition to planetary vorticity. Also, a more complete database for hydrological measurements in the Atlantic Ocean was used, including not only the National Oceanographic Data Center database but also World Ocean Circulation Experiment data and cruises near the Azores, Angola, and Guinea-Bissau. A detailed analysis of the Northern Hemisphere Azores Current and Front shows that this new database and the model results were able to capture all major features reported previously. In the Southern Hemisphere, the authors have identified fully and described the subtropical front that is the counterpart to the Azores Current, which they call the St. Helena Current and Front. Both current systems of both hemispheres have similar intensities, depth penetration, volume transports, and zonal flow. Both have associated subsurface adjacent countercurrent flows, and their main cores flow at similar latitudes (∼34°N for the Azores Current and 34°S for the St. Helena Current). It is argued that both current systems and associated fronts are the poleward 18°C Mode Water discontinuities of the two Atlantic subtropical gyres and that both originate at the corresponding hemisphere western boundary current systems from which they penetrate into the open ocean interior. Thus, both currents should have a similar forcing source, and their origin should not be linked to any geographical peculiarities.

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