Scratching beneath the surface while coupling atmosphere, ocean and waves: Analysis of a dense water formation event

Carniel, Sandro; Benetazzo, Alvise; Bonaldo, Davide; Falcieri, Francesco Marcello; Miglietta, Mario Marcello; Ricchi, Antonio; Sclavo, Mauro

doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.03.007

Cited by 61 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Results clearly show that the spectro-radiometer overestimates the SST especially in areas close to the coast, where the cloudiness effect is greater; also because of the low resolution of the satellite, the meandering and small-scale structures are not resolved. Further, by comparing runs AO1 and AOW1, it can be seen that in the latter the wave mixing effects induce a larger cooling of the sea surface [18,58].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Typical output fields are the significant wave height, hereafter denoted as H s , the peak and mean wave periods, and the mean wave propagation direction. In our simulations covering the whole Mediterranean Sea, we used a consolidated configuration for the coupled use of SWAN in the COAWST system, as discussed in [18,19,36,37]. In detail, SWAN has been implemented with the same horizontal resolution adopted for ROMS (in order to be coupled in COAWST, SWAN and ROMS models must use the same grid), being the wave action spectrum discretized with 36 equally spaced directions and 24 geometrically distributed frequencies f, such that f n = f n + 1/1.1, with f n = 0.05 Hz.…”

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The substantial difference between the WRF standalone case and the AO run is that in the latter, the SST provided by ROMS is at high resolution and updated frequently in a dynamically consistent way. In fact, the heat fluxes that WRF sends to ROMS are based on the SST that WRF receives from ROMS, therefore providing a consistent approach for energy and momentum [18,19,27,47]. In standalone configurations, the fluxes are calculated offline independently by the atmospheric and the ocean models, generating inconsistencies between the two representations.…”

Section: Ao (Atmosphere-ocean Coupling) Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this work, we used different approaches. In most of the standalone runs (WRF1-9, therefore including WRF5 itself), the SST was provided by a low-resolution (8.3 km) radiometer, which may suffer from several errors due mainly to the limited resolution in coastal areas and to the observational holes caused by weather (cloudy) conditions (see for instance [18]). In the coupled runs, the ROMS model at 5 km resolution provides SST directly to the atmospheric model (whose wind in turn forces the oceanic circulation) after initialization by MFS modeled fields.…”

Section: Sst Analysis and Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

et al. 2017

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Abstract:In November 2011, an Atlantic depression affected the Mediterranean basin, eventually evolving into a Tropical-Like Cyclone (TLC or Mediterranean Hurricane, usually designated as Medicane). In the region affected by the Medicane, mean sea level pressures down to 990 hPa, wind speeds of hurricane intensity close to the eye (around 115 km/h) and intense rainfall in the prefrontal zone were reported. The intensity of this event, together with its long permanence over the sea, suggested its suitability as a paradigmatic case for investigating the sensitivity of a numerical modeling system to different configurations, air-sea interface parameterizations and coupling approaches. Toward this aim, a set of numerical experiments with different parameterization schemes and levels of coupling complexity was carried out within the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Wave Sediment Transport System (COAWST), which allows the description of air-sea dynamics by coupling an atmospheric model (WRF), an ocean circulation model (ROMS), and a wave model (SWAN). The sensitivity to different initialization times and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) parameterizations was firstly investigated by running a set of WRF standalone (atmospheric-only) simulations. In order to better understand the effect of coupling on the TLC formation, intensification and trajectory, different configurations of atmosphere-ocean coupling were subsequently tested, eventually including the full coupling among atmosphere, ocean and waves, also changing the PBL parameterization and the formulation of the surface roughness. Results show a strong sensitivity of both the trajectory and the intensity of this TLC to the initial conditions, while the tracks and intensities provided by the coupled modeling approaches explored in this study do not introduce drastic modifications with respect to those resulting from a fine-tuned standalone atmospheric run, though they provide by definition a better physical and energetic consistency. Nevertheless; the use of different schemes for the calculation of the surface roughness from wave motion, which reflects the description of air-sea interface processes, can significantly affect the results in the fully coupled runs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ao (Atmosphere-ocean Coupling) Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sst Analysis and Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

et al. 2017

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Dense water formation in the north‐western Mediterranean area during HyMeX‐SOP2 in 1/36° ocean simulations: Ocean‐atmosphere coupling impact

et al. 2017

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The north‐western Mediterranean Sea is a key location for the thermohaline circulation of the basin. The area is characterized by intense air‐sea exchanges favored by the succession of strong northerly and north‐westerly wind situations (mistral and tramontane) in autumn and winter. Such meteorological conditions lead to significant evaporation and ocean heat loss that are well known as the main triggering factor for the Dense Water Formation (DWF) and winter deep convection episodes. During the HyMeX second field campaign (SOP2, 1 February to 15 March 2013), several platforms were deployed in the area in order to document the DWF and the ocean deep convection, as the air‐sea interface conditions. This study investigates the role of the ocean‐atmosphere coupling on DWF during winter 2012–2013. The coupled system, based on the NEMO‐WMED36 ocean model (1/36° resolution) and the AROME‐WMED atmospheric model (2.5 km resolution), was run during 2 months covering the SOP2 and is compared to an ocean‐only simulation forced by AROME‐WMED real‐time forecasts and to observations collected in the north‐western Mediterranean area during the HyMeX SOP2. The comparison shows small differences in terms of net heat, water, and momentum fluxes. On average, DWF is slightly sensitive to air‐sea coupling. However, fine‐scale ocean processes, such as shelf DWF and export or eddies and fronts at the rim of the convective patch, are significantly modified. The wind‐current interactions constitute an efficient coupled process at fine scale, acting as a turbulence propagating vectors, producing large mixing and convection at the rim of the convective patch.

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Impact of sea surface temperature on stratiform cloud formation over the North Sea

Fallmann

Lewis

Castillo

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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This study presents a numerical simulation assessing the effect of dynamical ocean–atmosphere coupling on the structure of the marine atmospheric boundary layer over the southern North Sea. Using a high‐resolution regional coupled ocean‐atmosphere prediction system, with a coupling frequency of 1 h, a diurnal variation of sea surface temperature simulated by the ocean model is applied to the atmosphere component. This results in a surface warming in the coupled compared to an atmosphere‐only run. Shallow convection initiated by heating of the lower atmosphere by a relatively warmer ocean surface leads local formation of low level clouds between 1300 h and 1700 h in the coupled run. The impact of these clouds in reflecting incoming solar radiation is demonstrated through a relative cooling of the sea surface temperature in the coupled simulation compared to an ocean‐only run forced by an atmosphere‐only run without representation of ocean‐atmosphere interactions.

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Scratching beneath the surface while coupling atmosphere, ocean and waves: Analysis of a dense water formation event

Cited by 61 publications

References 53 publications

Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

Dense water formation in the north‐western Mediterranean area during HyMeX‐SOP2 in 1/36° ocean simulations: Ocean‐atmosphere coupling impact

Impact of sea surface temperature on stratiform cloud formation over the North Sea

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