Evaluation of the z-tilde vertical coordinate in a 1/4° global NEMO

Author(s):  
Alex Megann ◽  
Jerome Chanut ◽  
Dave Storkey

<p>The eddy-permitting 1/4° resolution in NEMO has been known to suffer from significant numerical diapycnal mixing. This arises from truncations in the advection scheme, which causes spurious mixing of tracers where there are transient vertical motions from internal tides and near-inertial waves, as well as from computational modes associated with partly-resolved mesoscale features. Suppressing the near-gridscale noise by increasing the viscosity has been shown to offer a useful reduction in that contribution to numerical mixing, but does not have a significant effect on tides and inertial waves.</p><p>The z~ scheme replaces eulerian vertical tracer advection across the vertical coordinate surfaces, on time scales less than a few days, with displacements of the coordinate surfaces themselves, in a manner more consistent with the nearly adiabatic nature of near-inertial gravity waves and tides. This has been shown to give substantial reduction in numerical mixing in an idealised configuration, but has yet to be fully evaluated in a global ocean domain. It is shown, using a new prototype eORCA025 global NEMO configuration, that <strong>z~</strong> with the default filter timescales reduces the effective diapycnal diffusivity and temperature drifts by only about 10%. Preliminary results will be presented for the sensitivity of the numerical mixing to the z~ timescale and other parameters. The application of z~ to a tidally-forced simulation will also be discussed.</p>

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1316-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.-D. Zhang ◽  
F. Yi ◽  
J.-F. Wang

Abstract. By analyzing the results of the numerical simulations of nonlinear propagation of three Gaussian gravity-wave packets in isothermal atmosphere individually, the nonlinear effects on the characteristics of gravity waves are studied quantitatively. The analyses show that during the nonlinear propagation of gravity wave packets the mean flows are accelerated and the vertical wavelengths show clear reduction due to nonlinearity. On the other hand, though nonlinear effects exist, the time variations of the frequencies of gravity wave packets are close to those derived from the dispersion relation and the amplitude and phase relations of wave-associated disturbance components are consistent with the predictions of the polarization relation of gravity waves. This indicates that the dispersion and polarization relations based on the linear gravity wave theory can be applied extensively in the nonlinear region.Key words: Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics; waves and tides)


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Holmes ◽  
Jan Zika ◽  
Stephen Griffies ◽  
Andrew Hogg ◽  
Andrew Kiss ◽  
...  

<p>Numerical mixing, the physically spurious diffusion of tracers due to the numerical discretization of advection, is known to contribute to biases in ocean circulation models. However, quantifying numerical mixing is non-trivial, with most studies utilizing specifically targeted experiments in idealized settings. Here, we present a precise method based on water-mass transformation for quantifying numerical mixing, including its spatial structure, that can be applied to any conserved variable in global general circulation ocean models. The method is applied to a suite of global MOM5 ocean-sea ice model simulations with differing grid spacings and sub-grid scale parameterizations. In all configurations numerical mixing drives across-isotherm heat transport of comparable magnitude to that associated with explicitly-parameterized mixing. Numerical mixing is prominent at warm temperatures in the tropical thermocline, where it is sensitive to the vertical diffusivity and resolution. At colder temperatures, numerical mixing is sensitive to the presence of explicit neutral diffusion, suggesting that much of the numerical mixing in these regions acts as a proxy for neutral diffusion when it is explicitly absent. Comparison of equivalent (with respect to vertical resolution and explicit mixing parameters) 1/4-degree and 1/10-degree horizontal resolution configurations shows only a modest enhancement in numerical mixing at the eddy-permitting 1/4-degree resolution. Our results provide a detailed view of numerical mixing in ocean models and pave the way for future improvements in numerical methods.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBIN ROBERTSON ◽  
AIKE BECKMANN ◽  
HARTMUT HELLMER

In certain regions of the Southern Ocean, tidal energy is believed to foster the mixing of different water masses, which eventually contribute to the formation of deep and bottom waters. The Ross Sea is one of the major ventilation sites of the global ocean abyss and a region of sparse tidal observations. We investigated M2 tidal dynamics in the Ross Sea using a three-dimensional sigma coordinate model, the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS). Realistic topography and hydrography from existing observational data were used with a single tidal constituent, the semi-diurnal M2. The model fields faithfully reproduced the major features of the tidal circulation and had reasonable agreement with ten existing tidal elevation observations and forty-two existing tidal current measurements. The differences were attributed primarily to topographic errors. Internal tides were generated at the continental shelf/slope break and other areas of steep topography. Strong vertical shears in the horizontal velocities occurred under and at the edges of the Ross Ice Shelf and along the continental shelf/slope break. Estimates of lead formation based on divergence of baroclinic velocities were significantly higher than those based on barotrophic velocities, reaching over 10% at the continental shelf/slope break.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 3165-3188
Author(s):  
Pengyang Song ◽  
Xueen Chen

AbstractA global ocean circulation and tide model with nonuniform resolution is used in this work to resolve the ocean circulation globally as well as mesoscale eddies and internal tides regionally. Focusing on the northwest Pacific Ocean (NWP, 0°–35°N, 105°–150°E), a realistic experiment is conducted to simulate internal tides considering the background circulation and stratification. To investigate the influence of a background field on the generation and propagation of internal tides, idealized cases with horizontally homogeneous stratification and zero surface fluxes are also implemented for comparison. By comparing the realistic cases with idealized ones, the astronomical tidal forcing is found to be the dominant factor influencing the internal tide conversion rate magnitude, whereas the stratification acts as a secondary factor. However, stratification deviations in different areas can lead to an error exceeding 30% in the local internal tide energy conversion rate, indicating the necessity of a realistic stratification setting for simulating the entire NWP. The background shear is found to refract propagating diurnal internal tides by changing the effective Coriolis frequencies and phase speeds, while the Doppler-shifting effect is remarkable for introducing biases to semidiurnal results. In addition, nonlinear baroclinic tide energy equations considering the background circulation and stratification are derived and diagnosed in this work. The mean flow–baroclinic tide interaction and nonlinear energy flux are the most significant nonlinear terms in the derived equations, and nonlinearity is estimated to contribute approximately 5% of the total internal tide energy in the greater Luzon Strait area.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casimir de Lavergne ◽  
Clément Vic ◽  
Gurvan Madec ◽  
Fabien Roquet ◽  
Amy Waterhouse ◽  
...  

<p>Vertical mixing is often regarded as the Achilles’ heel of ocean models. In particular, few models include a comprehensive and energy-constrained parameterization of mixing by internal ocean tides. Here, we present an energy-conserving mixing scheme which accounts for the local breaking of high-mode internal tides and the distant dissipation of low-mode internal tides. The scheme relies on four static two-dimensional maps of internal tide dissipation, constructed using mode-by-mode Lagrangian tracking of energy beams from sources to sinks. Each map is associated with a distinct dissipative process and a corresponding vertical structure. Applied to an observational climatology of stratification, the scheme produces a global three-dimensional map of dissipation which compares well with available microstructure observations and with upper-ocean finestructure mixing estimates. Implemented in the NEMO global ocean model, the scheme improves the representation of deep water-mass transformation and obviates the need for a constant background diffusivity.</p>


Ocean Science ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1067-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Isabelle Pujol ◽  
Yannice Faugère ◽  
Guillaume Taburet ◽  
Stéphanie Dupuy ◽  
Camille Pelloquin ◽  
...  

Abstract. The new DUACS DT2014 reprocessed products have been available since April 2014. Numerous innovative changes have been introduced at each step of an extensively revised data processing protocol. The use of a new 20-year altimeter reference period in place of the previous 7-year reference significantly changes the sea level anomaly (SLA) patterns and thus has a strong user impact. The use of up-to-date altimeter standards and geophysical corrections, reduced smoothing of the along-track data, and refined mapping parameters, including spatial and temporal correlation-scale refinement and measurement errors, all contribute to an improved high-quality DT2014 SLA data set. Although all of the DUACS products have been upgraded, this paper focuses on the enhancements to the gridded SLA products over the global ocean. As part of this exercise, 21 years of data have been homogenized, allowing us to retrieve accurate large-scale climate signals such as global and regional MSL trends, interannual signals, and better refined mesoscale features.An extensive assessment exercise has been carried out on this data set, which allows us to establish a consolidated error budget. The errors at mesoscale are about 1.4 cm2 in low-variability areas, increase to an average of 8.9 cm2 in coastal regions, and reach nearly 32.5 cm2 in high mesoscale activity areas. The DT2014 products, compared to the previous DT2010 version, retain signals for wavelengths lower than  ∼  250 km, inducing SLA variance and mean EKE increases of, respectively, +5.1 and +15 %. Comparisons with independent measurements highlight the improved mesoscale representation within this new data set. The error reduction at the mesoscale reaches nearly 10 % of the error observed with DT2010. DT2014 also presents an improved coastal signal with a nearly 2 to 4 % mean error reduction. High-latitude areas are also more accurately represented in DT2014, with an improved consistency between spatial coverage and sea ice edge position. An error budget is used to highlight the limitations of the new gridded products, with notable errors in areas with strong internal tides.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 2689-2701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Onuki ◽  
Toshiyuki Hibiya

AbstractRecent numerical and observational studies have reported that resonant wave–wave interaction may be a crucial process for the energy loss of internal tides and the associated vertical water mixing in the midlatitude deep ocean. Special attention has been directed to the remarkable latitudinal dependence of the resonant interaction intensity; semidiurnal internal tides promptly lose their energy to near-inertial motions through parametric subharmonic instability equatorward of the critical latitudes 29°N/S, where half the tidal frequency coincides with the local inertial frequency. This feature contradicts the classical theoretical prediction that resonant wave–wave interaction does not play a major role in the tidal energy loss in the open ocean. By reformulating the kinetic equation for long internal waves and developing its calculation method, we estimate the energy decay rates of the low-vertical-mode semidiurnal internal tides interacting with the “ubiquitous” oceanic internal wave field. The result shows rapid energy decay of the internal tides, typically within O(10) days for the lowest-mode component, near their critical latitudes. This decay time is severalfold shorter than those in the classical studies and, additionally, varies by a factor of 2 depending on the local depth and density structure. We suggest from this study that the numerical integration of the kinetic equation is a more effective approach than recognized to determine the decay parameter of wave energy, which is indispensable for the global ocean models.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 2398-2406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Cuypers ◽  
P. Bouruet‐Aubertot ◽  
J. Vialard ◽  
M. J. McPhaden

2014 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 481-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yile Li ◽  
Chiang C. Mei

AbstractWe present an analytical theory of scattering of tide-generated internal gravity waves in a continuously stratified ocean with a randomly rough seabed. Based on a linearized approximation, the idealized case of constant mean sea depth and Brunt–Väisälä frequency is considered. The depth fluctuation is assumed to be a stationary random function of space, characterized by small amplitude and a correlation length comparable to the typical wavelength. For both one- and two-dimensional topographies the effects of scattering on the wave phase over long distances are derived explicitly by the method of multiple scales. For one-dimensional topography, numerical results are compared with Bühler & Holmes-Cerfon (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 678, 2011, pp. 271–293), computed by the method of characteristics. For two-dimensional topography, new results are presented for both statistically isotropic and anisotropic cases.


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