scholarly journals Sensitivity of the ocean circulation model to the k–omega vertical turbulence parametrization

Author(s):  
V. B. Zalesny ◽  
S. N. Moshonkin

Ocean general circulation model (OGCM) of the INM RAS with embedded k turbulent model is developed. The solution of the k model equations depends on the frequencies of buoyancy and velocity shift which are generated by the OGCM. The coefficients of vertical turbulence in OGCM depend on k and omega. The numerical algorithms of both models are based on the splitting method for physical processes. The model equations are split into two stages, describing the three-dimensional transport-diffusion of the kinetic energy of turbulence and frequency and their local generation-dissipation. The system of ordinary differential equations arising at the second stage is solved analytically, which ensures the efficiency of the algorithm. Analytical solution also written for the vertical turbulence coefficient equation. The model is used to study the sensitivity of the model circulation of the North AtlanticArctic Ocean to variations in the parameters of vertical turbulence. Experiments show that varying the coefficients of the analytical model solution can improve the adequacy of the simulation.

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (60) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Heimbach ◽  
Martin Losch

AbstractWe investigate the sensitivity of sub-ice-shelf melt rates under Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, to changes in the oceanic state using an adjoint ocean model that is capable of representing the flow in sub-ice-shelf cavities. The adjoint code is based on algorithmic differentiation (AD) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s ocean general circulation model (MITgcm). The adjoint model was extended by adding into the AD process the corresponding sub-ice-shelf cavity code, which implements a three-equation thermodynamic melt-rate parameterization to infer heat and freshwater fluxes at the ice-shelf/ocean boundary. The inferred sensitivities reveal dominant timescales of 30–60 days over which the shelf exit is connected to the deep interior via advective processes. They exhibit rich three-dimensional time-evolving patterns that can be understood in terms of a combination of the buoyancy forcing by inflowing water masses, the cavity geometry and the effect of rotation and topography in steering the flow in the presence of prominent features in the bedrock bathymetry. Dominant sensitivity pathways are found over a sill, as well as ‘shadow regions’ of very low sensitivities. To the extent that these transient patterns are robust they carry important information for decision-making in observation deployment and monitoring.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennart Ramme ◽  
Jochem Marotzke

Abstract. When a snowball Earth deglaciates through a very high atmospheric CO2 concentration, the resulting inflow of freshwater leads to a stably stratified ocean, and the strong greenhouse conditions drive the climate into a very warm state. Here, we use a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model, applying different scenarios for the evolution of atmospheric CO2, to conduct the first simulation of the climate and the three-dimensional ocean circulation in the aftermath of the Marinoan snowball Earth. The simulations show that the strong freshwater stratification breaks up on a timescale in the order of 103 years, mostly independent of the applied CO2 scenario. This is driven by the upwelling of salty waters in high latitudes, mainly the northern hemisphere, where a strong circumpolar current dominates the circulation. In the warmest CO2 scenario, the simulated Marinoan supergreenhouse climate reaches a global mean surface temperature of about 30 °C under an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 15 × 103 parts per million by volume, which is a moderate temperature compared to previous estimates. Consequently, the thermal expansion of seawater causes a sea-level rise of only 8 m, with most of it occurring during the first 3000 years. Our results imply that the surface temperatures of that time were potentially not as threatening for early metazoa as previously assumed. Furthermore, the short destratification timescale found in this study implies a very rapid accumulation of Marinoan cap dolostones, given that they were deposited in a freshwater environment.


2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID M. HOLLAND ◽  
STANLEY S. JACOBS ◽  
ADRIAN JENKINS

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.


2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 1441-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu Min Lu ◽  
Rui Xin Huang

Abstract Based on the classical Ekman layer theory, a simple analytical solution of the steady flow induced by a stationary hurricane in a homogenous ocean is discussed. The model consists of flow converging in an inward spiral in the deeper layer and diverging in the upper layer. The simple analytical model indicates that both the upwelling flux and the horizontal transport increase linearly with increasing radius of maximum winds. Furthermore, they both have a parabolic relationship with the maximum wind speed. The Coriolis parameter also affects the upwelling flux: the response to a hurricane is stronger at low latitudes than that at middle latitudes. Numerical solutions based on a regional version of an ocean general circulation model are similar to the primary results obtained through the analytical solution. Thus, the simplifications made in formulating the analytical solution are reasonable. Although the analytical solution in this paper is sought for a rather idealized ocean, it can help to make results from the more complicated numerical model understandable. These conceptual models provide a theoretical limit structure of the oceanic response to a moving hurricane over a stratified ocean.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 1941-1959 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Trossman ◽  
Brian K. Arbic ◽  
David N. Straub ◽  
James G. Richman ◽  
Eric P. Chassignet ◽  
...  

AbstractMotivated by the substantial sensitivity of eddies in two-layer quasigeostrophic (QG) turbulence models to the strength of bottom drag, this study explores the sensitivity of eddies in more realistic ocean general circulation model (OGCM) simulations to bottom drag strength. The OGCM results are interpreted using previous results from horizontally homogeneous, two-layer, flat-bottom, f-plane, doubly periodic QG turbulence simulations and new results from two-layer, β-plane QG turbulence simulations run in a basin geometry with both flat and rough bottoms. Baroclinicity in all of the simulations varies greatly with drag strength, with weak drag corresponding to more barotropic flow and strong drag corresponding to more baroclinic flow. The sensitivity of the baroclinicity in the QG basin simulations to bottom drag is considerably reduced, however, when rough topography is used in lieu of a flat bottom. Rough topography reduces the sensitivity of the eddy kinetic energy amplitude and horizontal length scales in the QG basin simulations to bottom drag to an even greater degree. The OGCM simulation behavior is qualitatively similar to that in the QG rough-bottom basin simulations, in that baroclinicity is more sensitive to bottom drag strength than are eddy amplitudes or horizontal length scales. Rough topography therefore appears to mediate the sensitivity of eddies in models to the strength of bottom drag. The sensitivity of eddies to parameterized topographic internal lee wave drag, which has recently been introduced into some OGCMs, is also briefly discussed. Wave drag acts like a strong bottom drag in that it increases the baroclinicity of the flow, without strongly affecting eddy horizontal length scales.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Heinze ◽  
Babette Hoogakker ◽  
Arne Winguth

Abstract. What role did changes in marine carbon cycle processes and calcareous organisms play for glacial-interglacial variation in atmospheric pCO2? In order to answer this question, we explore results from an ocean biogeochemical ocean general circulation model. We make an attempt to systematically reconcile model results with time dependent sediment core data from the observations. For this purpose, simulated sensitivities of oceanic tracer concentrations to changes in governing carbon cycle parameters are fitted to measured sediment core data.We assume that the time variation of the governing carbon cycle parameters follows the general pattern of the glacial-interglacial deuterium anomaly. Our analysis provides an independent estimate of a maximum mean sea surface temperature drawdown of about 5 °C and a maximum outgassing of the land biosphere by about 430 PgC at the last glacial maximum as compared to preindustrial times. The overall fit of modelled paleoclimate tracers to observations, however, remains quite weak indicating the potential of more detailed modelling studies for full exploitation of the information as stored in the paleo-climatic archive. It can be confirmed, however, that a decline in ocean temperature and a more efficient biological carbon pump in combination with changes in ocean circulation are the key factors for explaining the glacial CO2 drawdown. The analysis suggests that potential changes in the export rain ratio POC:CaCO3 may not have a substantial imprint on the paleo-climatic archive. The use of the last glacial as an inverted analogue to potential ocean acidification impacts thus may be quite limited. A potential strong decrease in CaCO3 export production could contribute to the glacial CO2 decline in the atmosphere but remains hypothetical.


Ocean Science ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Haines ◽  
J. A. Johannessen ◽  
P. Knudsen ◽  
D. Lea ◽  
M.-H. Rio ◽  
...  

Abstract. We review the procedures and challenges that must be considered when using geoid data derived from the Gravity and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission in order to constrain the circulation and water mass representation in an ocean general circulation model. It covers the combination of the geoid information with time-mean sea level information derived from satellite altimeter data, to construct a mean dynamic topography (MDT), and considers how this complements the time-varying sea level anomaly, also available from the satellite altimeter. We particularly consider the compatibility of these different fields in their spatial scale content, their temporal representation, and in their error covariances. These considerations are very important when the resulting data are to be used to estimate ocean circulation and its corresponding errors. We describe the further steps needed for assimilating the resulting dynamic topography information into an ocean circulation model using three different operational forecasting and data assimilation systems. We look at methods used for assimilating altimeter anomaly data in the absence of a suitable geoid, and then discuss different approaches which have been tried for assimilating the additional geoid information. We review the problems that have been encountered and the lessons learned in order the help future users. Finally we present some results from the use of GRACE geoid information in the operational oceanography community and discuss the future potential gains that may be obtained from a new GOCE geoid.


1997 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 116-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Legutke ◽  
E. Maier-Reimkr ◽  
A. Stössel ◽  
A. Hellbach

A global ocean general circulation model has been coupled with a dynamic thermodynamic sea-ice model. This model has been spun-up in a 1000 year integration using daily atmosphere model data. Main water masses and currents are reproduced as well as the seasonal characteristics of the ice cover of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Model results for the Southern Ocean, however, show the ice cover as too thin, and there are large permanent polynyas in the Weddell and Ross Seas. These polynyas are due to a large upward oceanic heat flux caused by haline rejection during the freezing of sea ice. Sensitivity studies were performed to test several ways of treating the sea-surface salinity and the rejected brine. The impact on the ice cover, water-mass characteristics, and ocean circulation are described.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1340-1356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Michael J. McPhaden ◽  
Dongxiao Zhang ◽  
E. Joseph Metzger

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.


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