基于高分辨ROMS模式的黑潮延伸体次中尺度涡各向异性分析

次中尺度过程的水平空间尺度约为0.1~10km, 时间尺度约为1天, 里查森数和罗斯贝数为0(1), 能有效地从中尺度环流中汲取能量向小尺度湍流串级, 并对上层海洋物质的垂向交换有着重要影响。本文基于水平分辨率为~500m的高分辨率ROMS(regional ocean modeling system)数值模拟结果, 采用方差椭圆方法, 评估了黑潮延伸体海域上层海洋次中尺度涡旋的各向异性特征, 并探讨了涡旋各向异性值的大小与次中尺度过程特征参数的相关性。研究结果表明, 黑潮延伸体主轴强流区域的次中尺度涡旋各向异性值明显小于两侧海域, 主轴区域的次中尺度涡旋特征明显强于流轴两侧海域, 各向异性值与次中尺度过程的强弱有着较为显著的负相关关系, 表明次中尺度过程具有较小的各向异性特征(更趋各向同性)。方差椭圆表征了涡与平均流相互作用过程中的能量反馈机制, 较大的各向同性特征意味着动能更趋正向串级。     

黑潮延伸体海域次中尺度过程的季节变化研究

近年来的现场观测和理论研究发现, 次中尺度现象广泛存在于上层海洋, 其产生与锋生作用及混合层斜压不稳定存在密切联系。本文利用高分辨率的数值模拟结果并结合动力学及能量诊断分析, 对黑潮延伸体海域次中尺度过程的季节变化进行了探讨。探讨结果表明, 黑潮延伸体海域次中尺度过程具有冬季最强, 春季和秋季次之, 夏季最弱的显著季节变化特征。基于冬、夏季次中尺度能量源的诊断可以看到, 这些季节变化特征主要与上层海洋的斜压不稳定和锋生作用有关。冬季, 黑潮延伸体海域的中尺度能量较弱, 但次中尺度过程在季节尺度上表现最为活跃, 这主要与混合层斜压不稳定的作用有关; 夏季, 黑潮延伸体海域的混合层较浅, 次中尺度过程较弱, 但中尺度涡旋活跃, 中尺度流场变形引起的锋生作用对夏季次中尺度现象的产生具有重要影响。在次中尺度能量的季节变化方面, 冬季次中尺度过程从中尺度过程汲取能量的速率远高于夏季, 这是冬季次中尺度过程比夏季更为活跃的主要原因。本文研究结果有助于加深对黑潮延伸体海域次中尺度过程季节性变化及其动力机制的理解。     

Three-dimensional characteristics of mesoscale eddies simulated by a regional model in the northwestern Pacific Ocean during 2000–2008

Mesoscale eddies play vital roles in ocean processes. Although previous studies focused on eddy surface features and individual three-dimensional (3D) eddy cases in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, the analysis of unique eddy 3D regional characteristics is still lacking. A 3D eddy detection scheme is applied to 9 years (2000–2008) of eddy-resolving Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) output to obtain a 3D eddy dataset from the surface to a depth of 1 000 m in the northwestern Pacific Ocean (15°–35°N, 120°–145°E). The 3D characteristics of mesoscale eddies are analyzed in two regions, namely, Box1 (Subtropical Countercurrent, 15°–25°N, 120°–145°E) and Box2 (Southern Kuroshio Extension, 25°–35°N, 120°–145°E). In Box1, the current is characterized by strong vertical shear and weak horizontal shear. In Box2, the current is characterized by the strong Kuroshio, topographic effect, and the westward propagation of Rossby waves. The results indicate the importance of baroclinic instability in Box1, whereas in Box2, both the barotropic and baroclinic instability are important. Moreover, the mesoscale eddies’ properties in Box1 and Box2 are distinct. The eddies in Box1 have larger number and radius but a shorter lifetime. By contrast, Box2 has fewer eddies, which have smaller radius but longer lifetime. Vertically, more eddies are detected at the subsurface than at the surface in both regions; the depth of 650 m is the turning point in Box1. Above this depth, the number of cyclonic eddies (CEs) is larger than that of anticyclonic eddies (AEs). In Box2, the number of CEs is dominant vertically. Eddy kinetic energy (EKE) and mean normalized relative vorticity in Box2 are significantly higher than those in Box1. With increasing depth, the attenuation trend of EKE and relative vorticity of Box1 become greater than those of Box2. Furthermore, the upper ocean (about 300 m in depth) contains 68.6% of the eddies (instantaneous eddy). Only 16.6% of the eddies extend to 1 000 m. In addition, about 87% of the eddies are bowl-shaped eddies in the two regions. Only about 3% are cone-shaped eddies. With increasing depth of the eddies, the proportion of bowl-shaped eddies gradually decreases. Conversely, the cone- and lens-shaped eddies are equal in number at 700–1 000 m, accounting for about 30% each. Studying the 3D characteristics of eddies in two different regions of the northwestern Pacific Ocean is an important stepping stone for discussing the different eddy generation mechanisms.     

Spatio-temporal changes in the distribution of phytopigments and phytoplanktonic groups at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) site

We have made a comprehensive study of pigment distributions and microscopically determined phytoplankton abundances within the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) location in the North Atlantic to better understand phytoplankton variability, and make some suggestions regarding the composition of the material falling to the sea bed and its impacts on benthic organisms such as Amperima rosea. The area has been the focus of many studies of ocean fluxes and benthic communities over recent years, but little attention has been given to the spatio-temporal variability in the surface waters. Dawn casts over a 12-day period at the PAP mooring site (48.83°N 16.5°W) revealed the presence of only one species, the diatom Actinocyclus exiguus, at bloom concentrations for just 5 days. Smaller populations of other diatoms and the dinoflagellates Gymnodinium and Gyrodinium were also present at this time. Following this 5-day interval, a mixed population of small–sized dinoflagellates, prymnesiophytes, prasinophytes, chrysophytes and cyanobacteria occurred. It is clear from concomitant CTD/bottle surveys that rapid changes in phytoplankton community structure at a fixed time series position do not necessarily reflect a degradation or manifestation of one particular species but rather represent the movement of eddies and other water masses within very short timescales. These cause substantial variability in the species class and size fraction that may explain the variability in carbon export that has been seen at the PAP site. We also make some suggestions on the variable composition of the material falling to the seabed and its impact on benthic organisms such as Amperima rosea.     

Post-convection spreading phase in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

This is a study about the spreading of newly formed deep waters following open ocean deep convection in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The main results are from the SOFARGOS large scale float experiment initiated in 1994–1995. During the SOFARGOS project, CTD stations and Lagrangian observations of ocean currents were carried out in the Gulf of Lion from December 1994 to July 1995. Hydrological observations confirmed that deep water formation occurred very early during winter 1994–1995 (late December, early January) in conjunction with atmospheric cooling, deep convection penetrating down to 2000 m in the so-called Medoc area. Numerous eddies (both anticyclonic and cyclonic) drifted away from the convection area and advected newly formed deep waters far away from the source region. In particular, compact anticyclones appeared to be the most coherent (long-lived) eddies and capable of transporting newly formed Western Mediterranean Deep Waters several hundreds of kilometers away from the convection area. Characterized by an inner core of about 5 km in radius, these eddies are submesoscale features in the outer domain and appear as key elements of the open ocean convection processes. During their long journeys, these eddies interacted with larger scale features such as the Northern Boundary Current, the North Balearic Front, topographic Rossby waves, and Sardinian eddies. These interactions influenced the long-term behavior of the eddies (mean drift, composition) and represented an important part of (1) the spreading phase following deep convection and (2) the large scale thermohaline circulation.     

Observations of the Labrador Sea eddy field

This paper is an observational study of small-scale coherent eddies in the Labrador Sea, a region of dense water formation thought to be of considerable importance to the North Atlantic overturning circulation. Numerical studies of deep convection emphasize coherent eddies as a mechanism for the lateral transport of heat, yet their small size has hindered observational progress. A large part of this paper is therefore devoted to developing new methods for identifying and describing coherent eddies in two observational platforms, current meter moorings and satellite altimetry. Details of the current and water mass structure of individual eddy events, as they are swept past by an advecting flow, can then be extracted from the mooring data. A transition is seen during mid-1997, with long-lived boundary current eddies dominating the central Labrador Sea year-round after this time, and convectively formed eddies similar to those seen in deep convection modeling studies apparent prior to this time. The TOPEX / Poseidon altimeter covers the Labrador Sea with a loose “net” of observations, through which coherent eddies can seem to appear and disappear. By concentrating on locating and describing anomalous events in individual altimeter tracks, a portrait of the spatial and temporal variability of the underlying eddy field can be constructed. The altimeter results reveal an annual “pulsation” of energy and of coherent eddies originating during the late fall at a particular location in the boundary current, pinpointing the time and place of the boundary current-type eddy formation. The interannual variability seen at the mooring is reproduced, but the mooring site is found to be within a localized region of greatly enhanced eddy activity. Notably lacking in both the annual cycle and interannual variability is a clear relationship between the eddies or eddy energy and the intensity of wintertime cooling. These eddy observations, as well as hydrographic evidence, suggest an active role for boundary current dynamics in shaping the energetics and water mass properties of the interior region.     

Objective array design for three-dimensional temperature and salinity observation: Application to the South China Sea

In this study, a moored array optimization tool (MAOT) was developed and applied to the South China Sea (SCS) with a focus on three-dimensional temperature and salinity observations. Application of the MAOT involves two steps: (1) deriving a set of optimal arrays that are independent of each other for different variables at different depths based on an empirical orthogonal function method, and (2) consolidating these arrays using a K-center clustering algorithm. Compared with the assumed initial array consisting of 17 mooring sites located on a 3°×3° horizontal grid, the consolidated array improved the observing ability for three-dimensional temperature and salinity in the SCS with optimization efficiencies of 19.03% and 21.38%, respectively. Experiments with an increased number of moored sites showed that the most cost-effective option is a total of 20 moorings, improving the observing ability with optimization efficiencies up to 26.54% for temperature and 27.25% for salinity. The design of an objective array relies on the ocean phenomenon of interest and its spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we focus on basin-scale variations in temperature and salinity in the SCS, and thus our consolidated array may not well resolve mesoscale processes. The MAOT can be extended to include other variables and multi-scale variability and can be applied to other regions.     

Large eddy simulations of mixed layer instabilities and sampling strategies

Recognizing the potential role played by submesoscale processes in both the energy cascade in the ocean and biogeochemical transport, we conduct a series of large eddy simulations of isolated mixed layer instabilities. The primary objective is to generate freely evolving velocity and density fields representative of submesoscale flows and then use these to examine potential observational sampling strategies. Mixed layer instabilities are explored in two parameter regimes: a strongly-stratified regime which results in a system with surface-intensified eddies and high vertical shear, and a weakly-stratified regime exhibiting weaker, smaller scale eddies that penetrate across the entire domain depth as Taylor columns. Analysis of a variety of mixing measures derived from both particle and tracer based sampling strategies indicates the differing importance of vertical processes in the two flow regimes.     

Submesoscale-enhanced filaments and frontogenetic mechanism within mesoscale eddies of the South China Sea

Submesoscale activity in the upper ocean has received intense studies through simulations and observations in the last decade, but in the eddy-active South China Sea (SCS) the fine-scale dynamical processes of submesoscale behaviors and their potential impacts have not been well understood. This study focuses on the elongated filaments of an eddy field in the northern SCS and investigates submesoscale-enhanced vertical motions and the underlying mechanism using satellite-derived observations and a high-resolution (~500 m) simulation. The satellite images show that the elongated highly productive stripes with a typical lateral scale of ~25 km and associated filaments are frequently observed at the periphery of mesoscale eddies. The diagnostic results based on the 500 m-resolution realistic simulation indicate that these submesoscale filaments are characterized by cross-filament vertical secondary circulations with an increased vertical velocity reaching O(100 m/d) due to submesoscale instabilities. The vertical advections of secondary circulations drive a restratified vertical buoyancy flux along filament zones and induce a vertical heat flux up to 110 W/m2. This result implies a significant submesoscale-enhanced vertical exchange between the ocean surface and interior in the filaments. Frontogenesis that acts to sharpen the lateral buoyancy gradients is detected to be conducive to driving submesoscale instabilities and enhancing secondary circulations through increasing the filament baroclinicity. The further analysis indicates that the filament frontogenesis detected in this study is not only derived from mesoscale straining of the eddy, but also effectively induced by the subsequent submesoscale straining due to ageostrophic convergence. In this context, these submesoscale filaments and associated frontogenetic processes can provide a potential interpretation for the vertical nutrient supply for phytoplankton growth in the high-productive stripes within the mesoscale eddy, as well as enhanced vertical heat transport.     

Inversion of the three-dimensional temperature structure of mesoscale eddies in the Northwest Pacific based on deep learning

Mesoscale eddies, which are mainly caused by baroclinic effects in the ocean, are common oceanic phenomena in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and play very important roles in ocean circulation, ocean dynamics and material energy transport. The temperature structure of mesoscale eddies will lead to variations in oceanic baroclinity, which can be reflected in the sea level anomaly (SLA). Deep learning can automatically extract different features of data at multiple levels without human intervention, and find the hidden relations of data. Therefore, combining satellite SLA data with deep learning is a good way to invert the temperature structure inside eddies. This paper proposes a deep learning algorithm, eddy convolution neural network (ECN), which can train the relationship between mesoscale eddy temperature anomalies and sea level anomalies (SLAs), relying on the powerful feature extraction and learning abilities of convolutional neural networks. After obtaining the temperature structure model through ECN, according to climatic temperature data, the temperature structure of mesoscale eddies in the Northwest Pacific is retrieved with a spatial resolution of 0.25° at depths of 0–1 000 m. The overall accuracy of the ECN temperature structure is verified using Argo profiles at the locations of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies during 2015–2016. Taking 10% error as the acceptable threshold of accuracy, 89.64% and 87.25% of the cyclonic and anticyclonic eddy temperature structures obtained by ECN met the threshold, respectively.     

黑潮流区次中尺度热量输运特征 ——以2013年1月模拟结果为例

作为中尺度过程与小尺度过程中的过渡,次中尺度过程[空间尺度为O(1～10)km,时间尺度为O(1)天]是海洋动力过程中重要的一环。海洋次中尺度过程具有明显的非地转特征,从而促进垂向热量和物质的输运,因此在海洋上层热量与物质垂直交换中肩负着极为重要的作用。黑潮作为全球最强的西边界流之一,是海洋能量的重要聚集区。针对黑潮流区大尺度环流和中尺度涡旋等动力过程的研究,受到海洋和气象学者的广泛关注,但对黑潮流区次中尺度过程的相关研究相对较少。本文基于高分辨率ROMS数值模式(空间分辨率为1公里),针对黑潮流区(25.5°～29.4°N, 124.4°～131°E)次中尺度过程的空间分布特征及其诱导的热量输运特征进行了研究。模拟结果表明,黑潮流区存在着十分活跃的次中尺度过程,尤其是在黑潮流区及岛屿周边等地形变化剧烈的海区。相对涡度和垂直流速的分布特征表明,次中尺度相对涡度和垂向流速上表现出了明显的不对称性,正相对涡度强于负相对涡度,向下垂向流速强于向上垂向流速,而这主要是由惯性不稳定所导致。通过计算次中尺度引起的热量输运,结果表明次中尺度的水平热量通量为东北方向,从较低纬度朝较高纬度输运,这意味着次中尺度可以促进不同纬度的热量交换;而垂向热量通量则表现出向上输运的特征,即由深层往表层输运,这意味着次中尺度过程可以导致热量在垂直方向上的再分配,从而使得海洋趋于再分层。     

Seasonal variability of turbulent heat fluxes in the tropical Atlantic Ocean based on WHOI flux product

The mean seasonal variability of turbulent heat fluxes in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is examined using the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution(WHOI) flux product.The most turbulent heat fluxes occur during winter seasons in the two hemispheres,whose centers are located at 10°~20°N and 5°～15°S respectively.In climatological ITCZ,the turbulent heat fluxes are the greatest from June to August,and in equatorial cold tongue the turbulent heat fluxes are the greatest from March to May.Seasonal variability of sensible heat flux is smaller than that of latent heat flux and mainly is dominated by the variations of air-sea temperature difference.In the region with larger climatological mean wind speed(air-sea humidity difference),the variations of air-sea humidity difference(wind speed) dominate the variability of latent heat flux.The characteristics of turbulent heat flux yielded from theory analysis and WHOI dataset is consistent in physics which turns out that WHOI's flux data are pretty reliable in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.     

南海及西北太平洋卫星高度计资料分析:海洋中尺度涡统计特征

采用AVISO提供的卫星高度计融合数据,对南海及西北太平洋(5°～35°N,105°～150°E)1993～2009年17a间的中尺度涡活动进行统计分析.结果表明南海中尺度涡活动具有明显的年际变化,每年观测到产生的中尺度涡个数平均为21～22个,标准差约为4个,占年平均值的20%;而西北太平洋中尺度涡个数的年际差异不大,平均每年观测到150～151个中尺度涡产生,标准差约为14个,仅占年平均值的9%.中尺度涡的逐月统计结果表明南海和西北太平洋的中尺度涡活动均有明显季节变化,1993～2009年间的各月南海和西北太平洋分别观测到30～31个和213～214个中尺度涡产生,标准差分别约为6个和41个,均占各自月平均值的19%.中尺度涡主要集中分布在南海东北部、越南东部和黑潮流轴附近海域.涡动能、海面高度距平均方根以及涡度均方根的空间分布大致与涡旋个数分布一致,但在西北太平洋的低纬海区和黑潮延伸体区域则不甚吻合.在相同的涡旋判别标准下,西北太平洋低纬海区(5°～15°N)观测到的中尺度涡个数比中高纬海区要少得多.     

南海西北陆坡区内潮与近惯性内波观测研究

通过对2006年南海西北部海域近3个月的全水深流速观测资料的分析,研究了该海区正压潮、内潮及近惯性内波的时空分布特征。结果表明,全日内潮明显强于半日内潮,且最大潮流均出现在海洋上层;内潮的主轴方向基本沿东南-西北方向,近似与局地等深线垂直;内潮能量显示出明显的时间长度约为半月的大小潮调制周期;全日内潮的coherent部分占全日内潮能量的70%,而半日内潮的coherent部分占半日内潮能量的53%;进一步研究发现半日内潮主要由第一模态主导,而全日内潮第三模态能量占总能量的比例仅次于第一模态且量值上与之相当;强风过程可激发出强的近惯性运动,暖涡使得近惯性内波能量更有效地向海洋深层传播,冷涡则不利于近惯性内波能量向下传播。     

Modeling of mesoscale coupled ocean–atmosphere interaction and its feedback to ocean in the western Arabian Sea

Observations of the western Arabian Sea over the last decade have revealed a rich filamentary eddy structure, with large horizontal SST gradients in the ocean, developing in response to the southwest monsoon winds. This summertime oceanic condition triggers an intense mesoscale coupled interaction, whose overall influence on the longer-term properties of this ocean remains uncertain. In this study, a high-resolution regional coupled model is employed to explore this feedback effect on the long-term dynamical and thermodynamical structure of the ocean.The observed relationship between the near-surface winds and mesoscale SSTs generate Ekman pumping velocities at the scale of the cold filaments, whose magnitude is the order of 1 m/day in both the model and observations. This additional Ekman-driven velocity, induced by the wind-eddy interaction, accounts for approximately 10–20% of oceanic vertical velocity of the cold filaments. This implies that Ekman pumping arising from the mesoscale coupled feedback makes a non-trivial contribution to the vertical structure of the upper ocean and the evolution of mesoscale eddies, with obvious implications for marine ecosystem and biogeochemical variability.Furthermore, SST features associated with cold filaments substantially reduce the latent heat loss. The long-term latent heat flux change due to eddies in the model is approximately 10–15 W/m² over the cold filaments, which is consistent with previous estimates based on short-term in situ measurements. Given the shallow mixed layer, this additional surface heat flux warms the cold filament at the rate of 0.3–0.4 °C/month over a season with strong eddy activity, and 0.1–0.2 °C/month over the 12-year mean, rendering overall low-frequency modulation of SST feasible. This long-term mixed layer heating by the surface flux is approximately ±10% of the lateral heat flux by the eddies, yet it can be comparable to the vertical heat flux. Potential dynamic and thermodynamic impacts of this observed air–sea interaction on the monsoons and regional climate are yet to be quantified given the strong correlation between the Somalia upwelling SST and the Indian summer monsoons.     

热带太平洋障碍层厚度的时空特征分析

利用中国Argo实时数据中心提供的9 a(2000—2008年)网格化Argo剖面浮标温、盐数据(G Argo),分析热带太平洋障碍层厚度的气候态分布和低频变化特征。气候平均结果表明,较厚的障碍层主要出现于西太平洋暖池区,并有3条纬向障碍层带状分布,从暖池出发向东延伸至120°W,分别位于以15°N,5°N和12°S为中心的纬度带上。经验正交函数(EOF)基本模态分析表明,热带太平洋障碍层低频振荡以季节和年际变化为主,在季节尺度上主要表现为15°N和12°S障碍层纬度带呈反相变化,都在当地冬季最大,夏季最小;在年际尺度上则主要表现为暖池东边界附近障碍层与厄尔尼诺南方涛动(ENSO)相关的变化,以及暖池中部障碍层与热带准2 a周期振荡(TBO)相关的变化。     

Optimisation of an idealised ocean model,stochastic parameterisation of sub-grid eddies

An optimisation scheme is developed to accurately represent the sub-grid scale forcing of a high dimensional chaotic ocean system. Using a simple parameterisation scheme, the velocity components of a 30 km resolution shallow water ocean model are optimised to have the same climatological mean and variance as that of a less viscous 7.5 km resolution model. The 5 day lag-covariance is also optimised, leading to a more accurate estimate of the high resolution response to forcing using the low resolution model.The system considered is an idealised barotropic double gyre that is chaotic at both resolutions. Using the optimisation scheme, we find and apply the constant in time, but spatially varying, forcing term that is equal to the time integrated forcing of the sub-grid scale eddies. A linear stochastic term, independent of the large-scale flow, with no spatial correlation but a spatially varying amplitude and time scale is used to represent the transient eddies. The climatological mean, variance and 5 day lag-covariance of the velocity from a single high resolution integration is used to provide an optimisation target. No other high resolution statistics are required. Additional programming effort, for example to build a tangent linear or adjoint model, is not required either.The focus of this paper is on the optimisation scheme and the accuracy of the optimised flow. However the forcing can provide insights in the design of deterministic and stochastic parameterisations. In the present study, we found that the stochastic parameterisation correcting the model variance is associated with the spatial pattern of eddy-decorrelation timescales rather than the spatial pattern of the amplitude of the variance. The method can be applied in future investigations into the physical processes that govern barotropic turbulence and it can perhaps be applied to help understand and correct biases in the mean and variance of a more realistic coarse or eddy-permitting ocean model. The method is complementary to current parameterisations and can be applied at the same time without modification.     

Spatial-temporal variability of submesoscale currents in the South China Sea

Spatial and seasonal variabilities of submesoscale currents in the northeastern South China Sea are investigated by employing a numerical simulation with a horizontal resolution of 1km. The results suggest that submesoscale currents are widespread in the surface mixed layer mainly due to the mixed layer instabilities and frontogenesis. In horizontal, submesoscale currents are generally more active in the north than those in the south, since that active eddies, especially cyclonic eddies, mainly occur in the northern area. Specifically, submesoscale currents are highly intensified in the east of Dongsha Island and south of Taiwan Island. In temporal sense, submesoscale currents are more active in winter than those in summer, since the mixed layer is thicker and more unstable in the winter. The parameterization developed by Fox-Kemper et al. is examined in terms of vertical velocity, and the results suggest that it could reproduce the vertical velocity if mixed layer instability dominates there. This study improves our understanding of the submesoscale dynamics in the South China Sea.     

Physical oceanographic conditions around the S1 mooring site

We describe physical oceanographic conditions around the S1 biogeochemical mooring site (30°N, 145°E) between February 2010 and July 2013. At the S1 mooring site, there is a clear seasonal variability of the mixed layer depth, wind forcing as well as horizontal kinetic energy in a near-inertial band. Interannual variability of the winter mixed layer was observed. The winter mixed layer depth was shallower in early 2010 and became deeper afterwards. Several mesoscale eddies and typhoons passed by the S1 mooring sites every year. Based on observed events, we suggest that those physical processes possibly affected biogeochemical properties around the S1 mooring site.     

Bathymetric influence on mean currents in two high-resolution near-global ocean models

The question of whether mean flow generation by eddies interacting with sloping bathymetry significantly influences World Ocean circulation is approached by examining output from two near-global circulation models, OFES and the LANL/NPS POP model, having ∼1/10° lateral resolution. In each of these vigorously eddying models, the mean currents over sloping bathymetry tend preferentially to align with the direction of topographic Rossby wave propagation, in accordance with theories of eddy-topographic interaction. This tendency, which is particularly strong near the ocean bottom and at abyssal depths, prevails both globally and within a variety of circulation regimes including the subpolar and subtropical gyres and the extra-equatorial tropics. By contrast, two coarser (∼1–2°), non-eddying models exhibit flow alignments throughout much of the abyssal ocean that are oppositely directed. This result suggests that eddies play an essential role in determining the direction of mean circulation over slopes, and that non-eddying models could benefit from a parameterization of this effect.