Measures of the Fidelity of Eddying Ocean Models (original) (raw)
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Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 2006
On the decadal to centennial time scale, changes in climate are controlled strongly by changes in ocean circulation. However, because of limitations inherent to the time integration schemes used in present-day ocean models, state-of-the-art climate change simulations resolve the oceans only very coarsely. With an aim to enable long-term simulations of ocean circulation at the high resolutions required for a better representation of global ocean dynamics, we have implemented fully-implicit time integration schemes in a version of the popular ocean general circulation model POP (Parallel Ocean Program), employing Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov techniques. Here, we describe the numerical principles underlying iPOP in some detail and present a few computational results. While there are many advantages to this approach, including a consistent and uniform treatment of the terms in the governing equations, the primary advantage lies in the ability to take time steps that are of relevance to the physical phenomenon that is being studied. The time step is not limited (for stability reasons) by the fastest modes of the system.
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We overview problems and prospects in ocean circulation models, with emphasis on certain developments aiming to enhance the physical integrity and flexibility of large-scale models used to study global climate. We also consider elements of observational measures rendering information to help evaluate simulations and to guide development priorities.
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The global ocean circulation with a seasonal cycle has been simulated with a two-and-a-half layer upper-ocean model. This model was developed for the purpose of coupling to an atmospheric general circulation model for climate studies on decadal time scales. The horizontal resolution is 4 ° latitude by 5 ° longitude and is thus not eddy-resolving. Effects of bottom topography are neglected. In the vertical, the model resolves the oceanic mixed layer and the thermocline. A thermodynamic sea-ice model is coupled to the mixed layer. The model is forced at the surface with seasonally varying (a) observed wind stress, (b) heat fluxes, as defined by an atmospheric equilibrium temperature, and (c) Newtonian-type surface salt fluxes. The second layer is coupled to the underlying deep ocean through Newtonian-type diffusive heat and salt fluxes, convective overturning, and mass entrainment in the upwelling regions of the subpolar gyres. The overall global distributions of mixed layer temperature, salinity and thickness are favorably reproduced. Inherent limitations due to coarse horizontal resolution result in large mixed-layer temperature errors near continental boundaries and in weak current systems. Sea ice distributions agree well with observations except in the interiors of the Ross and Weddell Seas. A realistic time rate of change of heat storage is simulated. There is also realistic heat transport from low to high latitudes.
Parameterization Improvements in an Eddy-Permitting Ocean Model for Climate
Journal of Climate, 2002
Different parameterizations for vertical mixing and the effects of ocean mesoscale eddies are tested in an eddy-permitting ocean model. It has a horizontal resolution averaging about 0.7Њ and was used as the ocean component of the parallel climate model. The old ocean parameterizations used in that coupled model were replaced by the newer parameterizations used in the climate system model. Both ocean-alone and fully coupled integrations were run for at least 100 years. The results clearly show that the drifts in the upper-ocean temperature profile using the old parameterizations are substantially reduced in both sets of integrations using the newer parameterizations. The sea-ice distribution in the fully coupled integration using the newer ocean parameterizations is also improved. However, the sea-ice distribution is sensitive to both sea-ice parameterizations and the atmospheric forcing, in addition to being dependent on the ocean simulation. The newer ocean parameterizations have been shown to improve considerably the solutions in non-eddy-resolving configurations, such as in the climate system model, where the horizontal resolution of the ocean component is about 2Њ. The work presented here is a clear demonstration that the improvements continue into the eddy-permitting regime, where the ocean component has an average horizontal resolution of less than 1Њ.
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Abstract. This paper summarizes the formulation of the ocean component to the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's (GFDL) climate model used for the 4th IPCC Assessment (AR4) of global climate change. In particular, it reviews the numerical schemes and physical parameterizations that make up an ocean climate model and how these schemes are pieced together for use in a state-of-the-art climate model.
Journal of Geophysical Research, 1992
A two-dimensional (latitude-depth) deep ocean model is presented which is coupled to a sea ice model and an Energy Balance Climate Model (EBCM), the latter having land-sea and surface-air resolution. The processes which occur in the ocean model are thermohaline overturning driven by the horizontal density gradient, shallow wind-driven overturning cells, convective overturning, and vertical and horizontal diffusion of heat and salt. The density field is determined from the temperature and salinity fields using a nonlinear equation of state. Mixed layer salinity is affected by evaporation, precipitation, runoff from continents, and sea ice freezing and melting, as well as by advective, convective, and diffusive exchanges with the deep ocean. The ocean model is first tested in an uncoupled mode, in which hemispherically symmetric mixed layer temperature and salinity, or salinity flux, are specified as upper boundary conditions. An experiment performed with previous models is repeated in which a mixed layer salinity perturbation is introduced in the polar half of one hemisphere after switching from a fixed salinity to a fixed salinity flux boundary condition. For small values of the vertical diffusion coefficient Kv, the model undergoes self-sustained oscillations with a period of about 1500 years. With larger values of Kv, the model locks into either an asymmetric mode with a single overturning cell spanning both hemispheres, or a symmetric quiescent state with downwelling near the equator, upwelling at high latitudes, and a warm deep ocean (depending on the value of Kv). When the ocean model is forced with observed mixed layer temperature and salinity, no oscillations occur. The model successfully simulates the very weak meridional overturning and strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current at the latitudes of the Drake Passage. The coupled EBCM-deep ocean model displays internal oscillations with a period of 3000 years if the ocean fraction is uniform with latitude and Kv and the horizontal diffusion coefficient in the mixed layer are not too large. Globally averaged atmospheric temperature changes of 2 K are driven by oscillations in the heat flux into or out of the deep ocean, with the sudden onset of a heat flux out of the deep ocean associated with the rapid onset of thermohaline overturning after a quiescent period, and the sudden onset of a heat flux into the deep ocean associated with the collapse of thermohaline overturning. When the coupled model is run with prescribed parameters (such as land-sea fraction and precipitation) varying with latitude based on observations, the model does not oscillate and produces a reasonable deep ocean temperature field but a completely unrealistic salinity field. Resetting the mixed layer salinity to observations on each time step (equivalent to the "flux correction" method used in atmosphere-ocean general circulation models) is sufficient to give a realistic salinity field throughout the ocean depth, but dramatically alters the flow field and associated heat transport. Although the model is highly idealized, the finding that the maximum perturbation in globally averaged heat flux from the deep ocean to the surface over a 100-year period is 1.4 W m-2 suggests that effect of continuing greenhouse gas increases, which could result in a heating perturbation of 10 W m-2 by the end of the next century, will swamp possible surface heating perturbations due to changes in oceanic circulation. On the other hand, the extreme sensitivity of the oceanic flow field to variations in precipitation and evaporation suggests that it will not be possible to produce accurate projections of regional climatic change in the near term, if at all. INTRODUCTION Globally averaged, vertically resolved upwelling-diffusion models of the global oceans have been widely used in studies of the transient climatic response to external forcing changes [
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Ocean Modelling, 2000
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Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
Eddying global ocean models are now routinely used for ocean prediction, and the value-added of a better representation of the observed ocean variability and western boundary currents at that resolution is currently being evaluated in climate models. This overview article begins with a brief summary of the impact on ocean model biases of resolving eddies in several global ocean–sea ice numerical simulations. Then, a series of North and Equatorial Atlantic configurations are used to show that an increase of the horizontal resolution from eddy-resolving to submesoscale-enabled together with the inclusion of high-resolution bathymetry and tides significantly improve the models’ abilities to represent the observed ocean variability and western boundary currents. However, the computational cost of these simulations is extremely large, and for these simulations to become routine, close collaborations with computer scientists are essential to ensure that numerical codes can take full advan...
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Current practices within the oceanographic community have been reviewed with regard to the use of metrics to assess the realism of the upper-ocean circulation, ventilation processes diagnosed by time-evolving mixed-layer depth and mode water formation, and eddy heat fluxes in large-scale fine resolution ocean model simulations.