The study of ocean circulation dynamics with numerical models

Summarized is the author's study of the ocean circulation dynamics with numerical models, for which he was honored by the Okada Prize (1979). Cited topics are formation of the western boundary current and its variation associated with imposed wind stress, some effects of a marine ridge on the boundary current, coastal upwelling circulation and coastal thermohaline front formation. Recent modelling efforts in Japan, specifically on numerical study of ocean circulation dynamics are also reviewed.     

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     

Assimilation of image sequences in numerical models

Understanding and forecasting the evolution of geophysical fluids is a major scientific and societal challenge. Forecasting algorithms should take into account all the available information on the considered dynamic system. The variational data assimilation (VDA) technique combines all these informations in an optimality system (O.S.) in a consistent way to reconstruct the model inputs. VDA is currently used by the major meteorological centres. During the last two decades about 30 satellites were launched to improve the knowledge of the atmosphere and of the oceans. They continuously provide a huge amount of data that are still underused by numerical forecast systems. In particular, the dynamic evolution of certain meteorological or oceanic features (such as eddies, fronts, etc.) that the human vision may easily detect is not optimally taken into account in realistic applications of VDA. Image Assimilation in VDA framework can be performed using 'pseudo-observation' techniques: they provide apparent velocity fields, which are assimilated as classical observations. These measurements are obtained by certain external procedures, which are decoupled with the considered dynamic system. In this paper, we suggest a more consistent approach, which directly incorporates image sequences into the O.S.     

On the three-dimensional numerical modeling of the deep circulation around Ángel de la Guarda Island in the Gulf of California

A three-dimensional nonlinear baroclinic model is used to model the circulation in the Ballenas Channel, Gulf of California, México, which was inferred from current meter observations over three sills that surround the area. The suggested circulation consists of deep inflow that follows two paths: the first one is a direct spill of water through San Lorenzo sill into Ballenas Channel, the second one, a larger route that starts at San Esteban sill, then flows north of the island passing over Tiburón and Delfín basins, and then turns to the south reaching the North Ballenas Channel sill and then spills into Ballenas Channel. Following the latter result, a previous modeling effort to reproduce the circulation was partially obtained, the long path was not reproduced and it was believed that finer horizontal resolution was needed. In this work, the bathymetric resolution was increased by a factor of three and the full path of this deep circulation is now obtained and corroborated.     

Numerical investigation of deep water circulation in the Faroese Channels

The overflow of dense water from the Nordic Seas through the Faroese Channels is investigated numerically using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model. The model is forced by the removal of a barrier that separates different water masses in the bottom layer of the Faroe-Shetland Channel at the north-eastern boundary. An analysis of the output reveals that during its adjustment in the rotating channel the propagating flow is unstable and forms cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies in the Faroese Channels. The life-time of the cyclonic eddy is about 10 days, but an anti-cyclonic eddy that is formed upstream of the sill crest of the Faroe Bank Channel has a longer life-time. However, after 50 days it eventually loses its structure below 400 m due to the decay of a counter-rotating current. In the upper 400 m layer this anti-cyclonic eddy remains persistent for longer. Observational evidence of the eddy is confirmed by the tracks of experimental drifters released in the area and by the temperature and salinity fields observed in the Faroese Channels.The pinching of isotherms along the Wyville Thomson Ridge results in the concentration of cold water on the southern side of the Faroese Channels that overflows into the Rockall Trough. The model results demonstrate that the main part of the cold water outflows through the Faroe Bank Channel, rather than across the Wyville Thompson Ridge, due to Earth rotation. The apparent similarity of modelled temperature, salinity and velocity sections to recent measurements in this area adds confidence to these results.     

A numerical experiment on nearshore circulation in standing edge waves

The unsteady shallow-water vorticity equation dominating nearshore flow on a gently sloping plane beach has been solved by using the implicit finite difference technique under the assumption of constant viscosity over the flow field. The result of computation showed that pairs of nearshore circulation cells are generated through the nonlinear effect of flow in the boundary layer formed by the run-up movement of a standing edge wave along a shoreline and the paired cell has the spacing of half a wavelength of the edge wave. When the leaky-mode standing wave of Lamb with the same wave period as the edge wave and the wave crest parallel to a shoreline was superposed on the edge wave field, the alongshore spacing of circulation cell doubled and seaward flow in the cell concentrated in the narrow zone like a ‘rip current’. Although no effect of breaking waves is considered in the computation, such a mechanism may also generate some kinds of nearshore circulation systems observed in a sea.     

Numerical investigation of the South China Sea deep circulation

Based on a two-level nested model from the global ocean to the western Pacific and then to the South China Sea（SCS）, the high-resolution SCS deep circulation is numerically investigated. The SCS deep circulation shows a basin-scale cyclonic structure with a strong southward western boundary current in summer（July）, a northeastsouthwest through-flow pattern across the deep basin without a western boundary current in winter（January）,and a transitional pattern in spring and autumn. The sensitivity ...     

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of wind-induced barotropic circulation in the Gulf of Patras

The barotropic, wind-induced circulation, which develops in the Gulf of Patras in Western Greece during the winter, is studied using three-dimensional numerical simulations. The simulations are performed using the numerical code MIKE 3 FM (HD). The Gulf's basin is bracketed between two sills, one on the west at the opening with the Ionian Sea and the other on the east at the Straits of Rio-Antirio at the opening with the Gulf of Corinth. The simulations show that the wind-induced flow creates strong currents near the coasts, which determine the sense of rotation of the gyres that develop in the Gulf. Strong currents are also created at the Rio-Antirio Straits. The wind-induced, barotropic currents do not seem to contribute to the direct replenishment of bottom waters, which recirculate between the two sills. Depending on the wind-speed forcing of the flow, the residence time of the waters in the Gulf of Patras is estimated to range from one week to one month.     

The numerical simulation of Pacific Ocean circulation with five-level model

A five-level oceanic primitive equation model has been developed. This model is integrated numerically with annual mean wind stress and heat flux at sea surface for 30 a. The ocean circulations tend to quasi-stability. The simulated results show that the computed annual mean currents and sea surface temperature agree well with the observations.     

Tidally driven mixing in a numerical model of the ocean general circulation

Astronomical data reveals that approximately 3.5 terawatts (TW) of tidal energy is dissipated in the ocean. Tidal models and satellite altimetry suggest that 1 TW of this energy is converted from the barotropic to internal tides in the deep ocean, predominantly around regions of rough topography such as mid-ocean ridges. A global tidal model is used to compute turbulent energy levels associated with the dissipation of internal tides, and the diapycnal mixing supported by this energy flux is computed using a simple parameterization.The mixing parameterization has been incorporated into a coarse resolution numerical model of the global ocean. This parameterization offers an energetically consistent and practical means of improving the representation of ocean mixing processes in climate models. Novel features of this implementation are that the model explicitly accounts for the tidal energy source for mixing, and that the mixing evolves both spatially and temporally with the model state. At equilibrium, the globally averaged diffusivity profile ranges from 0.3 cm² s⁻¹ at thermocline depths to 7.7 cm² s⁻¹ in the abyss with a depth average of 0.9 cm² s⁻¹, in close agreement with inferences from global balances. Water properties are strongly influenced by the combination of weak mixing in the main thermocline and enhanced mixing in the deep ocean. Climatological comparisons show that the parameterized mixing scheme results in a substantial reduction of temperature/salinity bias relative to model solutions with either a uniform vertical diffusivity of 0.9 cm² s⁻¹ or a horizontally uniform bottom-intensified arctangent mixing profile. This suggests that spatially varying bottom intensified mixing is an essential component of the balances required for the maintenance of the ocean’s abyssal stratification.     

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…     

西南黄海夏季环流数值模拟研究

本文采用Regional Ocean Modeling System（ROMS）来研究西南黄海夏季环流,模拟的结果与浮标和锚定观测符合的很好。表层的海流流向东北,离岸一侧的流速大于近岸的流速,表层以下为约沿着25米等深线的气旋式流动。我们通过一系列过程导向实验研究海表风应力和底层温度锋面对环流的影响,结果表明,东南风驱动了表层东北向流动,底层温度锋面驱动了表层以下气旋式流动。底层温度锋面形成于近岸垂向混合充分水体和离岸层化水体之间。     

南海冬、夏季环流的三维数值模拟

本文利用一个斜压三维陆架海模式——HAMSOM模式对12月份和8月份的南海环流进行数值模拟,结果为:对上层流场,在12月份,在西沙群岛－中沙群岛海区间呈现一个气旋式环流,在越南中部东岸存在一支南向西边界流,在金兰湾的远海为一局地反气旋涡,在南海南部,主要表现为万安滩的气旋式大弯曲(气旋涡)及在北康暗沙北侧的反气旋涡;在8月份,在东沙群岛－中沙群岛－吕宋岛西侧海域间存在一大尺度的气旋涡,在南海西部主要表现为以西沙群岛南部的气旋涡与金兰湾－礼乐滩间的反气旋式大环流相对峙的局面,同时在万安滩东侧有－气旋涡.由于斜压效应、底形效应的作用,使冬、夏季的南海南部中层流场几乎与上层流场相反.     

Assimilation of altimetry data in the numerical model of the circulation in the Black Sea: The model numerical experiments

The numerical algorithm of the Kalman optimum filtration generalized for the case of three-dimensional fields and a multicomponent vector of the ocean state, with level measurements discrete over space and time being available, is given. The results of model numerical experiments on the assimilation of data on the Black Sea level are given. An attempt to estimate the effect of the time interval of data input on the results of field reconstruction was made.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Direct measurement of the deep circulation within the Brazil Basin

In support of the Deep Basin Experiment, part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, a large number of neutrally buoyant floats were released within the Brazil Basin during the 1990s in an attempt to measure directly the circulation in the deep ocean interior. Three levels corresponding to the three major subthermocline water masses were selected, and results from the deeper two (North Atlantic Deep Water, NADW, and Antarctic Bottom Water, AABW) are described. At this writing processing of acquired tracking data is incomplete. Hence, this paper reports on the progress of the observational program and gives our initial conclusions.It appears that the flow in the deep Brazil Basin is unlike previous conjectures in which the circulation patterns can be characterized as being primarily meridional, both along the western boundary and in the interior. The existence of a deep western boundary current (DWBC) is quite clear in the float data at the NADW level, but less prominent in the AABW, and the interior flow is dominantly zonal with unexpectedly small meridional space scales. Integral time scales are long, of order 20–30 days, and eddy kinetic energy levels are low, of order 1 cm²/s². In spite of the low energy levels a surprising number of our floats became caught up in vortices.A line of seamounts extending offshore near 20°S, known as the Vitória–Trindade Seamounts, interrupts the DWBCs and is the location for eddy formation and apparent flow away from the boundary into the interior. Although it has been speculated that this could feed a narrow zonal current of NADW (the “Namib Col Current”) our float trajectories suggest a return to the western boundary, rather than a continuation to the east.     

Applicability of numerical models to nonlinear dispersive waves

The applicability of three different wave-propagation models in nonlinear dispersive wave fields has been investigated. The numerical models tested here are based on three different wave theories: a fully nonlinear potential theory, a Stokes second-order theory, and a Boussinesq-type theory with an improved dispersion relation. Physical experiments and computations were conducted for wave evolutions during passage over a submerged shelf under various wave conditions. As expected, the fully nonlinear solutions agree better with the measurements than do the other solutions. Although the second-order solution has sufficient accuracy for smaller-amplitude wave cases, the truncation after the third harmonics causes significant discrepancies in wave form for larger waves. In addition, the second-order model markedly overestimates the first- and second-harmonic amplitudes in transmitted waves. The Boussinesq model provides excellent predictions of wave profile over the shelf even in larger wave cases. However, this model also overestimates the magnitudes of several higher harmonics in transmitted waves. These facts may indicate that energy transfer from bound components into free waves in these higher harmonics cannot be accurately evaluated by the Boussinesq-type equations.     

曲折海湾中潮汐和环流的数值研究

The Shacheng Bay(SCB) is one of the most complex coastal bays in southeast China and due to the fact of complicated geometry and dynamic coastal processes, it is considered as a challenging area for the numerical simulation of its hydrodynamic characteristics. The most advanced finite volume ocean model, finite-volume coastal ocean model(FVCOM), has adopted to simulate this hydrodynamic system, where tidal currents, tidal residual current and dye diffusion processes were studied and analyzed quantitatively. The validation of this numerical model matches well with various observation data, including elevation and current data. The misfit of a tidal elevation has a relative standard error of 3.66% and 4.67% for M2 and S2 tide components. The current validation shows a good match with an average error of 10 cm/s and 8° in the speed major axis and its direction respectively between the simulation and the measurement. This proves the robustness and reliability of this model. It is also found that the cape effect is significant and important in this system. The dye diffusion simulations show a 53 d flushing period for the whole inner bay waterbody. The results are of its first kind for understanding the hydrodynamic system in the SCB and they can provide helpful and trustful scientific information for others.