scholarly journals Low-Frequency Variability, Coherence Resonance, and Phase Selection in a Low-Order Model of the Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 1585-1604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pierini
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Global Bifurcation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Galerkin Projection ◽  
Coherence Resonance ◽  
Primitive Equation ◽  
Phase Selection ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
Low Order

Abstract In this paper, a low-order spectral quasigeostrophic (QG) model of the wind-driven ocean circulation is derived and used to analyze the low-order character of the intrinsic low-frequency variability of the midlatitude double-gyre ocean circulation and of the related coherence resonance and phase selection phenomena. The model includes an exponential in the basis functions that allows for westward intensification, retains only four modes in the Galerkin projection, is defined in a rectangular domain, and is forced by deterministic and stochastic winds, thus extending previous low-order QG ocean models. The solution under steady forcing is first obtained, and the results are also analyzed in terms of dynamical systems theory. A homoclinic bifurcation (with the wind amplitude chosen as the control parameter) leads to intrinsic decadal relaxation oscillations (ROs) similar in several respects to those obtained with primitive equation models. The system is then forced with an additional red noise wind, and, in a parameter range preceding the global bifurcation, a coherence resonance scenario very similar to the one found with a primitive equation model of the Kuroshio Extension is obtained: this suggests that such a phenomenon is of low-order character. To study the RO excitation mechanism, a method denoted as phase selection is proposed. The system is forced with additional fictitious periodic winds that produce an emergence of ROs yielding strong phase dependence with the periodic forcing. The subsequent analysis reveals the character of the wind forcing that is most likely to excite a RO. All the results are discussed within the general framework of climate dynamics.

scholarly journals Coherence Resonance in a Double-Gyre Model of the Kuroshio Extension

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pierini
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Relaxation Oscillation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Altimeter Data ◽  
Coherence Resonance ◽  
Wind Noise ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Double Gyre

Abstract The effect of stochastic winds on the intrinsic low-frequency variability of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) is analyzed through a double-gyre (DG) model forced by a steady climatological wind plus an idealized Ornstein–Uhlenbeck wind noise. A DG model of the KE bimodality, whose results compare well to altimeter data, is first shown to be an excitable system. In fact, the relaxation oscillation (forced by steady winds) with decadal time scale that describes the bimodality is recognized to be an internal mode of the system, which can be excited also in a dissipative parameter range (PR) in which it does not arise spontaneously, provided appropriate initial conditions are chosen. It is then shown that, if the additive wind noise is included in the forcing, the actual excitation of the relaxation oscillation in PR occurs if the noise is red with a decorrelation time greater than a minimum time scale ranging from 1 month to 1 year, depending on the dissipation. This behavior, known as “coherence resonance,” is likely to be paradigmatic of the low-frequency variability of western boundary current extensions of intrinsic origin, when it is in the form of relaxation oscillations resulting from a homoclinic bifurcation. General considerations concerning the interpretation of model results obtained within different parameter ranges are applied to this study.

scholarly journals On the Crucial Role of Basin Geometry in Double-Gyre Models of the Kuroshio Extension

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1327-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pierini
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Altimeter Data ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
Basin Geometry ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Double Gyre

Abstract The decadal chaotic relaxation oscillation obtained in a recent double-gyre model study of the Kuroshio Extension intrinsic low-frequency variability was found to compare surprisingly well with the real variability of the jet as revealed by altimeter data, despite the high degree of idealization of the model. In this note it is shown that elements of realism in the basin geometry, present in that study and absent in previous double-gyre models applied to the Kuroshio Extension, play a crucial role in shaping the low-frequency variability of the jet, and can explain the good performance of the model. A series of numerical experiments with different basin geometries of increasing degrees of simplicity are analyzed. If the schematic western boundary representing the coastline south of Japan is removed, the strong decadal variability completely disappears and only a very weak periodic oscillation about an elongated state of the jet is found. If the large zonal width of the basin (representing correctly the extension of the North Pacific Ocean) is reduced by a half, then the total meridional Sverdrup transport is reduced by the same factor, and so is the intensity of the Kuroshio and Oyashio western boundary currents: as a result, the modeled Kuroshio Extension is totally unrealistic in shape and is steady. If both simplifications are introduced the resulting jet is, again, totally unrealistic, yielding a weak periodic bimodal cycle. On the basis of these results, two main conclusions are drawn: (i) the introduction of appropriate geometrical elements of realism in double-gyre model studies of the Kuroshio Extension is essential, and (ii) the Kuroshio Extension intrinsic low-frequency variability would be dramatically different if the southwestern coastline of Japan were more meridionally oriented.

scholarly journals The Low-Frequency Variability of the Southern Ocean Circulation

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (16) ◽  
pp. 6081-6091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuel Giarolla ◽  
Ricardo P. Matano
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
Low Frequency Variability ◽  
Long Time

Abstract Long time series of sea surface height (SSH), sea surface temperature, and wind stress curl are used to determine the main modes of low-frequency variability of the Southern Ocean (SO) circulation. The dominant mode is a trend of increasing SSH at an average rate of 3.3 mm yr−1. Similar trends have been reported in previous studies and the analysis indicates that the tendency of sea level increase over the SO has become more spatially homogeneous during the last decade, with changes in the increasing rate in 2000 and 2006. The other modes consist of stationary, basin-type modes, and an eastward-propagating wave. The stationary modes are particularly dominant in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean basins, where their spatial structure appears to be shaped by the basin geometry and the bottom topography. The wavelike patterns travel eastward with a period of approximately 10 years. Two waves were identified in the analysis: a complete cycle between 1997 and 2007 and a second cycle starting in 2000. Such waves have rarely been mentioned or identified in studies using recent satellite-derived SSH products.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Decadal Variability of the Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Mc C. Hogg ◽  
Peter D. Killworth ◽  
Jeffrey R. Blundell ◽  
William K. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Low Frequency Oscillations ◽  
Low Frequency Variability

Abstract Eddy-resolving quasigeostrophic simulations of wind-driven circulation in a large ocean basin are presented. The results show that strong modes of low-frequency variability arise in many parameter regimes and that the strength of these modes depends upon the presence of inertial recirculations in the flow field. The inertial recirculations arise through advection of anomalous potential vorticity by the western boundary current and are barotropized by the effect of baroclinic eddies in the flow. The mechanism of low-frequency oscillations is explored with reference to previous studies, and it is found that the observed mode can be linked to the gyre mode but is strongly modified by the effect of eddies.

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