Parameterization of Eddy Fluxes near Oceanic Boundaries

Ferrari, Raffaele; McWilliams, James C.; Canuto, V. M.; Dubovikov, M. S.

doi:10.1175/2007jcli1510.1

Cited by 108 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…There may be still room for improvement of the parameterization for baroclinic instability adopted in the GCMs to express more accurately the effects of the rapidly growing submesoscale baroclinic instability in weakly stratified high-latitude oceans under cooling. Although recent studies made efforts to parameterize the restratification of the mixed layer due to submesoscale instabilities [e.g., FoxKemper et al, 2008;Ferrari et al, 2008], little attention has been paid to the situation investigated here that density modification extends to depths.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Baroclinic instability and submesoscale eddy formation in weakly stratified oceans under cooling

Akitomo¹

2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Numerical experiments with a three-dimensional nonhydrostatic model have been performed to investigate baroclinic instability and submesoscale eddy formation in weakly stratified oceans under cooling. Two types of baroclinic instability can exist in a two-layered ocean where the convectively formed deep mixed layer overlies the weakly stratified lower layer. One rapidly develops in the mixed layer with short wavelengths (shallow mode), and the other occupies the whole ocean depth with long wavelengths (deep mode). When a background flow is deep, the shallow mode develops first, but the deep mode replaces it in several days. In contrast, only the shallow mode is excited in the mixed layer overlying the strongly stratified layer. The linear stability analysis explains these results well. Despite active cooling, subsequently formed eddies restratify the mixed layer and modify water density over the whole depth. When a background flow is shallow, baroclinic instability is confined to the mixed layer and produces a dipole of surface-intensified cyclonic eddy and middepth-intensified anticyclonic eddy, both of which are of submesoscale (∼10 km). The anticyclonic eddy consisting of convectively formed but weakly stratified water moves across the front to ventilate the deep layer, where convection does not reach locally. In this way, density modification extends below the mixed layer. Surface cooling as well as baroclinicity enhances restratification of the mixed layer and density modification at depths by activating submesoscale eddy formation. The results can explain the restratification of the deep mixed layer observed during a cooling season and the origins of submesoscale coherent vortices recently detected in polar oceans.

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Baroclinic instability and submesoscale eddy formation in weakly stratified oceans under cooling

Akitomo¹

2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…This approach is not physical, particularly near the surface where diabatic mesoscale fluxes may dominate mixing. We include the effects of these diabatic mesoscale fluxes within the surface diabatic layer, using a simplified version of the near-boundary eddy flux parameterization of Ferrari et al (2008), as implemented by Danabasoglu et al (2008). Within this layer, the eddy-induced (bolus) velocity does not vanish.…”

Section: Ocean Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The CCSM4 Ocean Component

Danabasoglu¹,

Bates²,

Briegleb³

et al. 2012

J. Climate

552

393

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The ocean component of the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) is described, and its solutions from the twentieth-century (20C) simulations are documented in comparison with observations and those of CCSM3. The improvements to the ocean model physical processes include new parameterizations to represent previously missing physics and modifications of existing parameterizations to incorporate recent new developments. In comparison with CCSM3, the new solutions show some significant improvements that can be attributed to these model changes. These include a better equatorial current structure, a sharper thermocline, and elimination of the cold bias of the equatorial cold tongue all in the Pacific Ocean; reduced sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity biases along the North Atlantic Current path; and much smaller potential temperature and salinity biases in the near-surface Pacific Ocean. Other improvements include a global-mean SST that is more consistent with the present-day observations due to a different spinup procedure from that used in CCSM3. Despite these improvements, many of the biases present in CCSM3 still exist in CCSM4. A major concern continues to be the substantial heat content loss in the ocean during the preindustrial control simulation from which the 20C cases start. This heat loss largely reflects the top of the atmospheric model heat loss rate in the coupled system, and it essentially determines the abyssal ocean potential temperature biases in the 20C simulations. There is also a deep salty bias in all basins. As a result of this latter bias in the deep North Atlantic, the parameterized overflow waters cannot penetrate much deeper than in CCSM3.

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“…3.8). Based on theoretical consideration, Ferrari et al (2008) proposed an eddy parametrization for the near-boundary regions. They introduced a transition layer connecting the quasi-adiabatic interior and the turbulent boundary layer where eddy-induced velocity is parallel to the boundary.…”

Section: Diabatic Boundary Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Finite Element Sea Ice-Ocean Model (FESOM) v.1.4: formulation of an ocean general circulation model

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The Finite Element Sea Ice-Ocean Model (FE-SOM) is the first global ocean general circulation model based on unstructured-mesh methods that has been developed for the purpose of climate research. The advantage of unstructured-mesh models is their flexible multi-resolution modelling functionality. In this study, an overview of the main features of FESOM will be given; based on sensitivity experiments a number of specific parameter choices will be explained; and directions of future developments will be outlined. It is argued that FESOM is sufficiently mature to explore the benefits of multi-resolution climate modelling and that its applications will provide information useful for the advancement of climate modelling on unstructured meshes.

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Parameterization of Eddy Fluxes near Oceanic Boundaries

Cited by 108 publications

References 66 publications

Baroclinic instability and submesoscale eddy formation in weakly stratified oceans under cooling

Baroclinic instability and submesoscale eddy formation in weakly stratified oceans under cooling

The CCSM4 Ocean Component

The Finite Element Sea Ice-Ocean Model (FESOM) v.1.4: formulation of an ocean general circulation model

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