The connection between Labrador Sea buoyancy loss, deep western boundary current strength, and Gulf Stream path in an ocean circulation model

The sensitivity of the North Atlantic gyre circulation to high latitude buoyancy forcing is explored in a global, non-eddy resolving ocean general circulation model. Increased buoyancy forcing strengthens the deep western boundary current, the northern recirculation gyre, and the North Atlantic Current, which leads to a more realistic Gulf Stream path. High latitude density fluxes and surface water mass transformation are strongly dependent on the choice of sea ice and salinity restoring boundary conditions. Coupling the ocean model to a prognostic sea ice model results in much greater buoyancy loss in the Labrador Sea compared to simulations in which the ocean is forced by prescribed sea ice boundary conditions. A comparison of bulk flux forced hindcast simulations which differ only in their sea ice and salinity restoring forcings reveals the effects of a mixed thermohaline boundary condition transport feedback whereby small, positive temperature and salinity anomalies in subpolar regions are amplified when the gyre spins up as a result of increased buoyancy loss and convection. The primary buoyancy flux effects of the sea ice which cause the simulations to diverge are ice melt, which is less physical in the diagnostic sea ice model, and insulation of the ocean, which is less physical with the prognostic sea ice model. Increased salinity restoring ensures a more realistic net winter buoyancy loss in the Labrador Sea, but it is found that improvements in the Gulf Stream simulation can only be achieved with the excessive buoyancy loss associated with weak salinity restoring.     

Intercomparison of three South China Sea circulation models

1IntroductionTheSouthChinaSeaisthelargesttropicalmarginaldeepsealocatingbetweenthewesternPacificOceanandtheeasternIndianOcean.AsapartofAsia-Australiamaritimecontinent,monsoonisaprimaryfactorforcingtheSouthChinaSeaCurrent(SCSC)variation.Drivenbynortheasterlymonsooninwinterandsouth-westerlymonsooninsummer,respectively,theSCSCbehavesacyclonicgyreandananticy-clonicgyre,correspondingly(Wyrtki,1961;Xuetal.,1982).Owingtotheshortageandexpen-sivenessofdirectobservationsintheSCS,fur-therunder…     

Comparative quantification of physically and numerically induced mixing in ocean models

A diagnostic method for calculating physical and numerical mixing of tracers in ocean models is presented. The physical mixing is defined as the turbulent mean tracer variance decay rate. The numerical mixing due to discretisation errors of tracer advection schemes is shown to be the decay rate between the advected square of the tracer variance and the square of the advected tracer and can be easily implemented into any ocean model. The applicability of the method is demonstrated for four test cases: (i) a one-dimensional linear advection equation with periodic boundary conditions, (ii) a two-dimensional flat-bottom lock exchange test case without mixing, (iii) a two-dimensional marginal sea overflow study with mixing and entrainment and (iv) the DOME test case with a dense bottom current propagating down a broad linear slope. The method has a number of advantages over previously introduced estimates for numerical mixing.     

南海等密度面环流季节变化的数值模拟研究

In this study, we develop a variable-grid global ocean general circulation model(OGCM) with a fine grid(1/6)°covering the area from 20°S–50°N and from 99°–150°E, and use the model to investigate the isopycnal surface circulation in the South China Sea(SCS). The simulated results show four layer structures in vertical: the surface and subsurface circulation of the SCS are characterized by the monsoon driven circulation, with basin-scaled cyclonic gyre in winter and anti-cyclonic gyre in summer. The intermediate layer circulation is opposite to the upper layer, showing anti-cyclonic gyre in winter but cyclonic gyre in summer. The circulation in the deep layer is much weaker in spring and summer, with the maximum velocity speed below 0.6 cm/s. In fall and winter, the SCS deep layer circulation shows strong east boundary current along the west coast of Philippine with the velocity speed at 1.5 m/s, which flows southward in fall and northward in winter. The results have also revealed a fourlayer vertical structure of water exchange through the Luzon Strait. The dynamics of the intermediate and deep circulation are attributed to the monsoon driving and the Luzon Strait transport forcing.     

Pathways of suspended particles transport in the bottom layer of the southern Baltic Sea depending on the wind forcing (Numerical Simulation)

A random-walk model for a nonuniform diffusivity media coupled with an ocean circulation model has been applied to describe the pathways of suspended particles transport in the bottom boundary layer (BBL) of the southern Baltic Sea. The circulation model is based on the Princeton Ocean Model, in which the vertical grid size is logarithmically refined towards the bottom in order to resolve the BBL. Fields of the flow velocity and eddy diffusivities simulated by the POM, along with the settling velocity of the suspended particles, are used as an input for the random-walk model. A number of numerical experiments were performed to study the pathways of suspended particles in the southern Baltic BBL depending on the wind conditions. In particular, the suspended particles introduced into the BBL in the center of the Bornholm Basin at westerly and southerly winds are found to be trapped in the basin provided that the particles’ settling velocity is equal or greater than 2 m/day. The trapping phenomenon is explained by the combined effect of the Ekman transport convergence in the BBL due to the cyclonic gyre and the gravitational settling of the particles.     

Annual and decadal variability in the western subtropical North Atlantic: signal characteristics and sampling methodologies

Upper ocean (above 750 m) temperature structure of the northwestern subtropical Atlantic, including the Gulf Stream and a recirculation gyre south of the Stream, is characterized using primarily bathythermograph (BT) data collected between 1950 and 2003. Geostrophic calculations, using mean temperature-salinity relationships to compute dynamic height, are used to estimate velocities and transports. The mean annual Gulf Stream transport at 72° W relative to 750 m, 36.1 Sv, is approximately equal to the sum of the transport of the Florida Current, 32.0 Sv, and a shallow recirculation gyre described by Wang and Koblinsky [Journal of Physical Oceanography 26 (1996) 2462-2479], 5.5 Sv. The annual cycle of geostrophic transport relative to 750 m at 72° W is in phase with both an earlier published annual cycle of transport relative to 2000 m derived from hydrographic observations and the annual cycle of Florida Current transport measured indirectly by a submarine cable (i.e., maximum transports are observed in the summer and minimum in the fall, early winter). However, simple Sverdrup dynamics are inadequate to explain these cycles as maximum Sverdrup transports extend from winter to summer, while observed transports are minimum (maximum) in fall/winter (summer). The annual cycles derived from the BT data of the size of the shallow southern recirculation gyre, Gulf Stream position and upper layer transport (relative to 300 m) are in phase (maximum size, northern position and transport in fall) and consistent with the WK results derived from altimetry. However, the shallower annual cycles are out of phase with the deeper signals (i.e., maximum for the former (latter) are observed in fall (summer)). Decadal signals after 1965 in Gulf Stream position, geostrophic transport relative to 450 m, and the size of a recirculation gyre south of the Stream are approximately in phase as observed for the annual signal. This gyre and the shallow WK gyre exhibit the same horizontal structure, however, the decadal signal propagates deeper into the water column (at least to 700 m). The eastern expansion and contraction of the gyre on decadal time-scales is correlated with propagating SST signals. The sampling implications of these findings are addressed.     

Formation and export of deep water in the Labrador and Irminger Seas in a GCM

The influence of changes in the rate of deep water formation in the North Atlantic subpolar gyre on the variability of the transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current is investigated in a realistic hind cast simulation of the North Atlantic during the 1953–2003 period. In the simulation, deep water formation takes place in the Irminger Sea, in the interior of the Labrador Sea and in the Labrador Current. In the Irminger Sea, deep water is formed close to the boundary currents. It is rapidly exported out of the Irminger Sea via an intensified East Greenland Current, and out of the Labrador Sea via increased southeastward transports. The newly formed deep water, which is advected to Flemish Cap in approximately one year, is preceded by fast propagating topographic waves. Deep water formed in the Labrador Sea interior tends to accumulate and recirculate within the basin, with a residence time of a few years in the Labrador Sea. Hence, it is only slowly exported northeastward to the Irminger Sea and southeastward to the subtropical North Atlantic, reaching Flemish Cap in 1–5 years. As a result, the transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current is mostly correlated with convection in the Irminger Sea. Finally, the deep water produced in the Labrador Current is lighter and is rapidly exported out of the Labrador Basin, reaching Flemish Cap in a few months. As the production of deep-water along the western periphery of the Labrador Sea is maximum when convection in the interior is minimum, there is some compensation between the deep water formed along the boundary and in the interior of the basin, which reduces the variability of its net transport. These mechanisms which have been suggested from hydrographic and tracer observations, help one to understand the variability of the transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current at the exit of the subpolar gyre.     

A theoretical reason to expect inviscid western boundary currents in realistic oceans

The conventional picture of an ocean gyre, based on an ocean with vertical sidewalls, assumes a balance between an input of vorticity by wind stress curl, and a viscous flux of vorticity through the boundary at the same latitude, resulting from a viscous western boundary current which may be significantly modified by nonlinear terms. Potential interactions with topography are also commonly acknowledged as a possible complicating factor. In this idealized picture, the zonal momentum balance is taken to be geostrophic, as numerous model analyses confirm. A theoretical argument is given here which shows that, in an ocean with sloping sidewalls, this geostrophic balance results in bottom pressure torques which balance the wind stress curl at each latitude. This removes the requirement for a viscous western boundary current at each latitude suggesting that the dynamics within a western boundary current may be essentially inviscid. While inviscid western boundary currents have already been found in certain idealized systems, and in one set of diagnostics from an eddy permitting model, the generality of the argument presented here gives a strong reason to believe that these are not special cases. Inviscid western boundary currents are in fact the rule, and the vertical sidewall case is an unrealistic exception.     

A Terrain-Following Crystal Grid Finite Volume Ocean Circulation Model

A three dimensional hydrostatic finite volume ocean model has been developed to solve the integral dynamical equations. Since the basic (integral) equations are solved for finite volumes rather than grid points, the flux conservation is easily enforced, even on arbitrary meshes. Both upwind and high-order combined compact schemes can be incorporated into the model to increase computational stability and accuracy. This model uses a highly distorted grid system near the boundary. The lateral boundaries of each finite volume are perpendicular to x and y axes and the two vertical boundaries are not purely horizontal. Four types of finite volumes are designed to follow the terrain with four (Type-A), three (Type-B), two (Type-C), and one (Type-D) vertices in the lower surface. Such a terrain-following grid discretization has superior features to z- and σ-coordinate systems. The accuracy of this model was tested.     

大西洋热盐环流年代际变化机制研究Ⅱ．热盐环流年际和年代际变化机制研究

基于德国Max-Planck气象研究所的最新大气海洋环流模式(ECHAM5/MPI-OM),对控制试验(control run)下热盐环流(THC)年际及年代际变化进行了分析,揭示了年代际变率的产生机制。研究表明:(1)THC年际振荡的主导周期是4 a,年代际振荡的主导周期是24 a,THC的年代际振荡信号最强,是第一主成分。(2)THC的年代际振荡机制为:首先从大西洋径向翻转环流(MOC)强度最小开始,由于MOC强度处于较弱状态,从低纬度向高纬度输送的热量偏少,副极地海区海表温度出现负异常,持续5 a之后,北大西洋副极地海区海表温度达到最大负异常。此时副极地流环中心(北大西洋)的表层海水变冷,密度增加,海表面下降,产生从副极地流环边缘指向副极地流环的中心的压强梯度力,根据地转平衡关系,北大西洋副极地海区的上层海洋会出现一个气旋式的环流异常(副极地流环得到加强),北大西洋暖流(NAC)同时得到加强。在副极地海区海表温度达到最大负异常的3 a之后,副极地流环和NAC达到最强。由此,作为NAC延伸的法鲁海峡入流水增强,更多的高盐法鲁海峡入流水进入格陵兰-冰岛-挪威海(GIN)海域,使GIN海域层结稳定性减弱。1 a后,GIN海域深层对流增强,格陵兰-苏格兰海脊溢流水增加。在GIN海域深层对流达到最强的3 a之后,MOC强度达到最大。整个状态翻转过程完成的时间大约为12 a,THC年代际振荡的整个周期大约是24 a。     

Second-order moment advection scheme applied to Arctic Ocean simulation

We apply the second-order moment (SOM) advection scheme of (Prather, M.J. 1986. Numerical advection by conservation of second-order moments. J. Geophys. Res. 91, 6671–6681.) to the simulation of the large-scale circulation of the Arctic Ocean with a coupled ocean–sea-ice model. Compared to three other advection schemes commonly employed in ocean simulations (centred differences, flux corrected transport, and multidimensional positive definite advection transport), the SOM method helps preserve the vertical structure of Arctic water masses. The depth, thickness and hydrographic properties of the Arctic Surface Water and the Arctic Atlantic Layer are better represented with SOM than with any of the other three advection algorithms. We also present a convenient method for calculating the implicit numerical diffusivity of upstream based schemes, such as the SOM method, and discuss three approaches for improving the monotonicity properties of the SOM algorithm.     

Volume transports proceeding to the Kuroshio Extension region and recirculating in the Shikoku Basin

The volume transport of the Kuroshio, the western boundary current of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, varies vigorously due to merging of disturbances propagating from the entire North Pacific. Taking into account the recirculation in the Shikoku Basin by the zonal observation line at 30°N to the west of the Izu–Ogasawara Ridge, we estimated the volume transport in the top 1,000 m layer toward the Kuroshio Extension region. The volume transport of the local recirculation gyre in the Shikoku Basin increases associated with the westward extension of the gyre, particularly in the period of the large meandering path of the Kuroshio south of Japan. Meanwhile, most of the transport variations toward the Kuroshio Extension region correspond to those of the Kuroshio transport on the continental slope south of Japan, which vary independently of those of the recirculation gyre.     

A numerical study of the South China Sea deep circulation and its relation to the Luzon Strait transport

A fine-resolution MOM code is used to study the South China Sea basin-scale circulationand its relation to the mass transport through the Luzon Strait. The model domain includes the South China Sea, part of the East China Sea, and part of the Philippine Sea so that the currents in the vicinity of the Luzon Strait are free to evolve. In addition, all channels between the South China Sea and the Indonesian seas are closed so that the focus is on the Luzon Strait transport. The model is driven by specified Philippine Sea currents and by surface heat and salt flux conditions. For simplicity, no wind-stress is applied at the surface.The simulated Luzon Strait transport and the South China Sea circulation feature a sandwich vertical structure from the surface to the bottom. The Philippine Sea water is simulated to enter the South China Sea at the surface and in the deep ocean and is carried to the southern basin by western boundary currents. At the intermediate depth, the net Luzon Strait transport is out of t     

Mid-depth Lagrangian pathways in the North Atlantic and their impact on the salinity of the eastern subpolar gyre

The role of Mediterranean Overflow Water (MOW) in creating subsurface salinity anomalies within the Rockall Trough, a gateway to high latitude areas of deep convection, has been examined closely in recent years. Eulerian investigations of high latitude property fields have suggested that these subsurface anomalies are likely the result of variability in the zonal extent of the eastern limb of the subpolar gyre: when expanded into the eastern North Atlantic, the gyre is presumed to limit the extent to which MOW is able to penetrate northward to subpolar latitudes. However, though the depth of the subsurface salinity anomalies in the Rockall Trough supports the hypothesis that the intermittent presence of MOW is involved in creating the anomalies, MOW pathways to the Rockall Trough have not yet been established. Here, Lagrangian trajectories from floats released in the eastern North Atlantic between 1996 and 1997 and synthetic trajectories launched within an eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model are used to demonstrate that two main density neutral transport pathways lead to the Rockall Trough. One pathway involves the transport of relatively fresh waters as part of the North Atlantic Current and the other involves the transport of relatively salty waters from the eastern reaches of the subtropical North Atlantic. The results from this study indicate that changes in these pathways over time can explain the subsurface salinity variability in the Rockall Trough.     

Characteristics of quadrant and octant advection schemes in wave models

We point out one problem of the grid advection schemes when used in wave models in coastal areas. The deficiency of the schemes is investigated by means of the ‘third' generation WAM wave model, in which the wave energy is advected by a first order upwind scheme. Two similar, alternative modifications of this scheme are analyzed, the second of which is shown to solve most of the problems encountered with advection along the co-ordinate axes.     

Effects of bottom topography and density stratification on the formation of western boundary currents

A wind-driven, general circulation for a two-layer ocean with continental shelf-slope along the western boundary is studied numerically. Special attention is focused on the formation process of the western boundary current in the subtropical gyre. The western boundary current develops in the upper layer along the western boundary on the shelf-slope with a bottom trapped poleward flow in the lower layer. The poleward undercurrent is concentrated approximately along the contour lines of the potential vorticity,f/D, wheref is the Coriolis parameter andD the depth of the ocean. The separation of upper- and lower-layer flows on the shelf-slope represents a typical transient response. As the response approaches a steady state, the poleward undercurrent decreases in amplitude, and the motion tends to be confined to the upper layer. The flow pattern becomes similar to that found in a flat bottom ocean. A steady-state response is expected to be isostatic (no motion in the lower layer), even on the shelf-slope, as conservation of potential vorticity would suggest.The remarkable increase in transport of the western boundary current produced by the formation of an anticyclonic vortex on the shelf-slope extending throughout the hemisphere (Holland, 1973) does not occur in the wind-driven general circulation.     

Influence of asymmetric wind stress curl on the general ocean circulation using an eddy-resolving quasi-geostrophic model

On the general ocean circulation forced by the asymmetric wind stress curl, the role of the eddies which are detached from the western boundary current is studied using an eddy-resolving two-layered quasi-geostrophic numerical model with free-slip boundary condition. An ideal sinusoidal function is used as the wind stress curl, and amplitude is assumed to be larger over the southern basin than over the northern one. In contrast with the antisymmetric wind forcing, in the asymmetric wind stress case, the subtropical western boundary current overshoots to the north from the zero wind stress curl line. As the asymmetricity of the wind forcing becomes larger, the separation point of the time mean field is located further north. The eddies generated in the region of the subtropical recirculation are advected northward by the western boundary current and they are detached from subtropical gyre. The release of these eddies to the north basin leads to weaken the subtropical recirculation system. From the analysis of the potential vorticity budgets, in the asymmetric case, it is shown that detached eddies play an important role in transporting the negative vorticity which is excessively inputted into the southern basin, to the northern basin, in addition to the terms which transport vorticity in the antisymmetric case, i.e., the vorticity transport by the meander of the jet. Under the free-slip boundary, more than a quarter of that excess vorticity is transported by those detached eddies in some cases.     

A boundary-value problem for the parameterized mesoscale eddy transport

We present a physically and numerically motivated boundary-value problem for each vertical ocean column, whose solution yields a parameterized mesoscale eddy-induced transport streamfunction. The new streamfunction is a nonlocal function of the properties of the fluid column. It is constructed to have a low baroclinic mode vertical structure and to smoothly transition through regions of weak stratification such as boundary layers or mode waters. It requires no matching conditions or regularization in unstratified regions; it satisfies boundary conditions of zero transport at the ocean surface and bottom; and it provides a sink of available potential energy for each vertical seawater column, but not necessarily at each location within the column. Numerical implementation of the methodology requires the solution of a one-dimensional tridiagonal problem for each vertical column. To illustrate the approach, we present an analytical example based on the nonlinear Eady problem and two numerical simulations.     

The Greenland Sea tracer experiment 1996-2002: Horizontal mixing and transport of Greenland Sea Intermediate Water

In summer 1996, a tracer release experiment using sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) was launched in the intermediate-depth waters of the central Greenland Sea (GS), to study the mixing and ventilation processes in the region and its role in the northern limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation. Here we describe the hydrographic context of the experiment, the methods adopted and the results from the monitoring of the horizontal tracer spread for the 1996-2002 period documented by ∼10 shipboard surveys. The tracer marked “Greenland Sea Arctic Intermediate Water” (GSAIW). This was redistributed in the gyre by variable winter convection penetrating only to mid-depths, reaching at most 1800 m depth during the strongest event observed in 2002.For the first 18 months, the tracer remained mainly in the Greenland Sea. Vigorous horizontal mixing within the Greenland Sea gyre and a tight circulation of the gyre interacting slowly with the other basins under strong topographic influences were identified. We use the tracer distributions to derive the horizontal shear at the scale of the Greenland Sea gyre, and rates of horizontal mixing at ∼10 and ∼300 km scales. Mixing rates at small scale are high, several times those observed at comparable depths at lower latitudes. Horizontal stirring at the sub-gyre scale is mediated by numerous and vigorous eddies. Evidence obtained during the tracer release suggests that these play an important role in mixing water masses to form the intermediate waters of the central Greenland Sea.By year two, the tracer had entered the surrounding current systems at intermediate depths and small concentrations were in proximity to the overflows into the North Atlantic. After 3 years, the tracer had spread over the Nordic Seas basins. Finally by year six, an intensive large survey provided an overall synoptic documentation of the spreading of the tagged GSAIW in the Nordic Seas. A circulation scheme of the tagged water originating from the centre of the GS is deduced from the horizontal spread of the tracer. We present this circulation and evaluate the transport budgets of the tracer between the GS and the surroundings basins. The overall residence time for the tagged GSAIW in the Greenland Sea was about 2.5 years. We infer an export of intermediate water of GSAIW from the GS of 1 to 1.85 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹) for the period from September 1998 to June 2002 based on the evolution of the amount of tracer leaving the GS gyre. There is strong exchange between the Greenland Sea and Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait, but the contribution of the Greenland Sea to the Denmark Strait and Iceland Scotland overflows is modest, probably not exceeding 6% during the period under study.     

A deep cyclonic gyre in the Australian–Antarctic Basin

The traditional image of ocean circulation between Australia and Antarctica is of a dominant belt of eastward flow, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, with comparatively weak adjacent westward flows that provide anticyclonic circulation north and cyclonic circulation south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This image mostly follows from geostrophic estimates from hydrography using a bottom level of no motion for the eastward flow regime which typically yield transports near 170 Sv. Net eastward transport of about 145 Sv for this region results from subtracting those westward flows. This estimate is compatible with the canonical 134 Sv through Drake Passage with augmentation from Indonesian Throughflow (around 10 Sv).A new image is developed from World Ocean Circulation Hydrographic Program sections I8S and I9S. These provide two quasi-meridional crossings of the South Australian Basin and the Australian–Antarctic Basin, with full hydrography and two independent direct-velocity measurements (shipboard and lowered acoustic Doppler current profilers). These velocity measurements indicate that the belt of eastward flow is much stronger, 271 ± 49 Sv, than previously estimated because of the presence of eastward barotropic flow. Substantial recirculations exist adjacent to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: to the north a 38 ± 30 Sv anticyclonic gyre and to the south a 76 ± 26 Sv cyclonic gyre. The net flow between Australia and Antarctica is estimated as 157 ± 58 Sv, which falls within the expected net transport of 145 Sv.The 38 Sv anticyclonic gyre in the South Australian Basin involves the westward Flinders Current along southern Australia and a substantial 33 Sv Subantarctic Zone recirculation to its south. The cyclonic gyre in the Australian–Antarctic Basin has a substantial 76 Sv westward flow over the continental slope of Antarctica, and 48 ± 6 Sv northward-flowing western boundary current along the Kerguelen Plateau near 57°S. The cyclonic gyre only partially closes within the Australian–Antarctic Basin. It is estimated that 45 Sv bridges westward to the Weddell Gyre through the southern Princess Elizabeth Trough and returns through the northern Princess Elizabeth Trough and the Fawn Trough – where a substantial eastward 38 Sv current is hypothesized. There is evidence that the cyclonic gyre also projects eastward past the Balleny Islands to the Ross Gyre in the South Pacific.The western boundary current along Kerguelen Plateau collides with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that enters the Australian–Antarctic Basin through the Kerguelen–St. Paul Island Passage, forming an energetic Crozet–Kerguelen Confluence. Strongest filaments in the meandering Crozet-Kerguelen Confluence reach 100 Sv. Dense water in the western boundary current intrudes beneath the densest water of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current; they intensely mix diapycnally to produce a high potential vorticity signal that extends eastward along the southern flank of the Southeast Indian Ridge. Dense water penetrates through the Ridge into the South Australian Basin. Two escape pathways are indicated, the Australian–Antarctic Discordance Zone near 125°E and the Geelvinck Fracture Zone near 85°E. Ultimately, the bottom water delivered to the South Australian Basin passes north to the Perth Basin west of Australia and east to the Tasman Basin.