Eddy mass transport for the Southern Ocean in an eddy-permitting global ocean model

The eddy-induced mass transport is diagnosed for the Southern Ocean in an eddy-permitting global ocean model (OCCAM). The focus is on the transport by transient eddies in the deep ocean. The transport streamfunction is calculated in four different combinations of coordinate system. Depending on the coordinate system employed, the strength of transient eddy transport varies from 6 Sv meridional transport in latitude-density coordinates to 20 Sv across-streamline transport in streamline-depth coordinates. It is shown that transient eddies as well as standing eddies are necessary for cancelling the Deacon cell.In the Antarctic bottom water density layer, the major contribution of the transient eddies towards net equatorward transport occurs (a) as a strong transport over the narrow Drake Passage and (b) as a weaker but systematic transport over a broader region in the southeast Pacific where the Antarctic circumpolar current breaks up into multiple jets. In contrast, in the North Atlantic deep water density layer the net poleward eddy transport is spread out almost everywhere. This suggests that attention to eddies should not be restricted to places where the eddy transport has large magnitude.     

Evaluation of ocean model ventilation with CFC-11: comparison of 13 global ocean models

We compared the 13 models participating in the Ocean Carbon Model Intercomparison Project (OCMIP) with regards to their skill in matching observed distributions of CFC-11. This analysis characterizes the abilities of these models to ventilate the ocean on timescales relevant for anthropogenic CO₂ uptake. We found a large range in the modeled global inventory (±30%), mainly due to differences in ventilation from the high latitudes. In the Southern Ocean, models differ particularly in the longitudinal distribution of the CFC uptake in the intermediate water, whereas the latitudinal distribution is mainly controlled by the subgrid-scale parameterization. Models with isopycnal diffusion and eddy-induced velocity parameterization produce more realistic intermediate water ventilation. Deep and bottom water ventilation also varies substantially between the models. Models coupled to a sea-ice model systematically provide more realistic AABW formation source region; however these same models also largely overestimate AABW ventilation if no specific parameterization of brine rejection during sea-ice formation is included. In the North Pacific Ocean, all models exhibit a systematic large underestimation of the CFC uptake in the thermocline of the subtropical gyre, while no systematic difference toward the observations is found in the subpolar gyre. In the North Atlantic Ocean, the CFC uptake is globally underestimated in subsurface. In the deep ocean, all but the adjoint model, failed to produce the two recently ventilated branches observed in the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Furthermore, simulated transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) is too sluggish in all but the isopycnal model, where it is too rapid.     

Impact of parameterized lee wave drag on the energy budget of an eddying global ocean model

The impact of parameterized topographic internal lee wave drag on the input and output terms in the total mechanical energy budget of a hybrid coordinate high-resolution global ocean general circulation model forced by winds and air-sea buoyancy fluxes is examined here. Wave drag, which parameterizes the generation of internal lee waves arising from geostrophic flow impinging upon rough topography, is included in the prognostic model, ensuring that abyssal currents and stratification in the model are affected by the wave drag.An inline mechanical (kinetic plus gravitational potential) energy budget including four dissipative terms (parameterized topographic internal lee wave drag, quadratic bottom boundary layer drag, vertical eddy viscosity, and horizontal eddy viscosity) demonstrates that wave drag dissipates less energy in the model than a diagnostic (offline) estimate would suggest, due to reductions in both the abyssal currents and stratification. The equator experiences the largest reduction in energy dissipation associated with wave drag in inline versus offline estimates. Quadratic bottom drag is the energy sink most affected globally by the presence of wave drag in the model; other energy sinks are substantially affected locally, but not in their global integrals. It is suggested that wave drag cannot be mimicked by artificially increasing the quadratic bottom drag because the energy dissipation rates associated with bottom drag are not spatially correlated with those associated with wave drag where the latter are small. Additionally, in contrast to bottom drag, wave drag is a non-local energy sink.All four aforementioned dissipative terms contribute substantially to the total energy dissipation rate of about one terawatt. The partial time derivative of potential energy (non-zero since the isopycnal depths have a long adjustment time), the surface advective fluxes of potential energy, the rate of change of potential energy due to diffusive mass fluxes, and the conversion between internal energy and potential energy also play a non-negligible role in the total mechanical energy budget. Reasons for the <10% total mechanical energy budget imbalance are discussed.     

四种全球大洋水汽数据产品的比较分析

文章比较了卫星专用传感器微波成像仪/探测仪(SSM/I&SSMIS)、遥感系统数据集(RSS V7R01)、欧洲中期天气预报中心第5代再分析数据(ERA5)和现代回顾分析的研究与应用第2版数据(MERRA-2) 4种观测和再分析资料在刻画全球大洋水汽气候态中的异同点, 初步探究了不同尺度的大气柱水汽总量(TCWV)的变化特征和长期趋势。研究结果表明, 4种数据TCWV的空间分布、季节和年际变化较为一致。从1988至2018年, TCWV总体呈增加趋势, 其中热带海洋的年际变化显著, 增加趋势较强, 且和厄尔尼诺-南方涛动(ENSO)高度相关。利用再分析数据做短时间(如1991—1997年)的TCWV趋势分析时要慎重使用ERA5和MERRA-2的数据。在研究热带区域长期水汽变化趋势时, 需谨慎使用MERRA-2的数据。     

The Max-Planck-Institute global ocean/sea ice model with orthogonal curvilinear coordinates

The Hamburg Ocean Primitive Equation model has undergone significant development in recent years. Most notable is the treatment of horizontal discretisation which has undergone transition from a staggered E-grid to an orthogonal curvilinear C-grid. The treatment of subgridscale mixing has been improved by the inclusion of a new formulation of bottom boundary layer (BBL) slope convection, an isopycnal diffusion scheme, and a Gent and McWilliams style eddy-induced mixing parameterisation. The model setup described here has a north pole over Greenland and a south pole on the coast of the Weddell Sea. This gives relatively high resolution in the sinking regions associated with the thermohaline circulation. Results are presented from a 450 year climatologically forced integration. The forcing is a product of the German Ocean Model Intercomparison Project and is derived from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting reanalysis. The main emphasis is on the model’s representation of key quantities that are easily associated with the ocean’s role in the global climate system. The global and Atlantic northward poleward heat transports have peaks of 1.43 and 0.84 PW, at 18° and 21° N respectively. The Atlantic meridional overturning streamfunction has a peak of 15.7 Sv in the North Atlantic and an outflow of 11.9 Sv at 30° S. Comparison with a simulation excluding BBL shows that the scheme is responsible for up to a 25% increase in North Atlantic heat transport, with significant improvement of the depths of convection in the Greenland, Labrador and Irminger Seas. Despite the improvements, comparison with observations shows the heat transport still to be too weak. Other outstanding problems include an incorrect Gulf Stream pathway, a too strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and a too weak renewal of Antarctic Intermediate Water. Nevertheless, the model has been coupled to the atmospheric GCM ECHAM5 and run successfully for over 250 years without any surface flux corrections.     

M2 model of the global ocean tide derived from SEASAT altimetry

Abstract

The recovery of ocean tides from satellite altimetry, an attractive alternative to the hydrodynamical‐numerical approach, is investigated to create a global model of the M2 tide. From the outline of the difficulties faced in altimetry interpretation, we bring out general guidelines to extract the tidal information from a short span of measurements. In particular, we discuss the choice of a reference surface and the effect of the orbit error and tidal aliasing on the recovery. From space‐time harmonic analyses of twenty‐four days of SEASAT altimetry, we derive M2 solutions expanded into series of surface spherical harmonics for the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans separately and for the world ocean. The M2 cotidal maps we obtain feature qualitatively realistic tidal patterns and are consistent with the deep sea gages data. We then cast the bases to estimate the error budget of the altimeter tide solutions. The M2 fundamental harmonics involved in tidal energetics are evaluated from a spectral convolution of the global solutions with the ocean function and are used to test and discuss our results.

The present tidal recoveries must still be considered as preliminary trials because they are strongly dependent on the limits of the SEASAT mission and subject to improvements via an updating of our analysis procedure. But the altimeter approach of the open ocean tide modelling proves to be efficient, and the objective—to produce highly reliable models with the support of the next generation of satellite altimeters—is reasonably optimistic.     

Concurrent simulation of the eddying general circulation and tides in a global ocean model

This paper presents a five-year global simulation of HYCOM, the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model, that simultaneously resolves the eddying general circulation, barotropic tides, and baroclinic tides with 32 layers in the vertical direction and 1/12.5° (equatorial) horizontal grid spacing. A parameterized topographic wave drag is inserted into the model and tuned so that the surface tidal elevations are of comparable accuracy to those in optimally tuned forward tide models used in previous studies. The model captures 93% of the open-ocean sea-surface height variance of the eight largest tidal constituents, as recorded by a standard set of 102 pelagic tide gauges spread around the World Ocean. In order to minimize the impact of the wave drag on non-tidal motions, the model utilizes a running 25-h average to approximately separate tidal and non-tidal components of the near-bottom flow. In contrast to earlier high-resolution global baroclinic tide simulations, which utilized tidal forcing only, the simulation presented here has a horizontally non-uniform stratification, supported by the wind- and buoyancy forcing. The horizontally varying stratification affects the baroclinic tides in high latitudes to first order. The magnitude of the internal tide perturbations to sea surface elevation amplitude and phase in a large box surrounding Hawai’i is quite similar to that observed in satellite altimeter data, although the exact locations of peaks and troughs in the modeled perturbations differ from those in the observed perturbations.     

风场对全球海洋CFC-11 吸收的影响

为了在中国科学院大气物理研究所的全球海洋模式(LASG/IAP Climate Ocean Model,LICOM)中研究不同的风场引起的海气传输速度对三氯一氟甲烷(CFC-11)在海洋中的分布和吸收产生的影响,同时选出更适用于LICOM模式模拟海洋对气体吸收的风场,本文做了4组对比实验,即传输速度为常数(实验-C)以及依赖3个不同风场(Esbensen and Kushnir观测风场(实验-EK)、National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)再分析风场(实验-NP)、QuikSCAT卫星风场(实验-QS))的实验。在对比分析中重点考察了CFC-11的海气通量、海表浓度、水柱总量、传输过程等。结果显示,不同风场带来的传输速度差异会造成模拟结果在局部海域存在显著差异,但在大部分海域的差异并不显著。而且随着积分时间的增加,从海气通量、存储量两方面可以看出,不同模拟结果之间的差异有着减小的趋势。如1955年1月北大西洋局部地区,不同的风场下的海气通量模拟结果间的差异达到20%左右,到了1995年1月这种差异下降到15%左右。此外,传输速度的选取依赖风场计算值的全球平均值(试验-C)会造成模拟结果相对偏小,而风速相对较大的QuikSCAT卫星风场资料在一定程度上使得模式模拟结果与观测资料更为接近。     

基于z坐标海洋模式的全球正压潮波数值模拟研究

The performance of a z-level ocean model, the Modular Ocean Model Version 4(MOM4), is evaluated in terms of simulating the global tide with different horizontal resolutions commonly used by climate models. The performance using various sets of model topography is evaluated. The results show that the optimum filter radius can improve the simulated co-tidal phase and that better topography quality can lead to smaller rootmean square(RMS) error in simulated tides. Sensitivity experiments are conducted to test the impact of spatial resolutions. It is shown that the model results are sensitive to horizontal resolutions. The calculated absolute mean errors of the co-tidal phase show that simulations with horizontal resolutions of 0.5° and 0.25° have about 35.5% higher performance compared that with 1° model resolution. An internal tide drag parameterization is adopted to reduce large system errors in the tidal amplitude. The RMS error of the best tuned 0.25° model compared with the satellite-altimetry-constrained model TPXO7.2 is 8.5 cm for M_2. The tidal energy fluxes of M_2 and K_1 are calculated and their patterns are in good agreement with those from the TPXO7.2. The correlation coefficients of the tidal energy fluxes can be used as an important index to evaluate a model skill.     

包含温度因子的海水地球物理模型函数建模研究

以SeaWinds散射计为例,利用其L2A卫星测量数据和相应的海面浮标测量数据,以温度作为独立变量,借助人工神经网络首次尝试建立了包含温度因子的海水地球物理模型函数。建模实验结果表明,在3—15m.s-1风速范围内,对于两种极化方式,后向散射系数先随温度的升高而增大,当风速大于某一数值后,又随温度的升高而减小,但两种极化方式的转折风速存在差异。该研究结果为海面微波散射机理认识的进一步深入和模型函数精度的进一步提高展示了潜在的可能途径。     

Sensitivity of a global ocean model to increased run-off from Greenland

We study the reaction of a global ocean–sea ice model to an increase of fresh water input into the northern North Atlantic under different surface boundary conditions, ranging from simple restoring of surface salinity to the use of an energy balance model (EBM) for the atmosphere. The anomalous fresh water flux is distributed around Greenland, reflecting increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet and increasing fresh water export from the Arctic Ocean. Depending on the type of surface boundary condition, the large circulation reacts with a slow-down of overturning and gyre circulations. Restoring of the total or mean surface salinity prevents a large scale redistribution of the salinity field that is apparent under mixed boundary conditions and with the EBM. The control run under mixed boundary conditions exhibits large and unrealistic oscillations of the meridional overturning. Although the reaction to the fresh water flux anomaly is similar to the response with the EBM, mixed boundary conditions must thus be considered unreliable. With the EBM, the waters in the deep western boundary current initially become saltier and a new fresh water mass forms in the north-eastern North Atlantic in response to the fresh water flux anomaly around Greenland. After an accumulation period of several decades duration, this new North East Atlantic Intermediate Water spreads towards the western boundary and opens a new southward pathway at intermediate depths along the western boundary for the fresh waters of high northern latitudes.     

全球海洋大气柱水汽含量遥感融合数据产品生成

本研究利用国际在轨SSMIS、WindSat、AMSR-E、ASMR2和国产HY-2A微波辐射计多源遥感大气柱水汽含量观测数据,基于最优插值算法,生成了2003-2015年全球海洋每日0.25°高分辨率的大气柱水汽含量多源遥感融合产品,以及2012-2015年未使用HY-2A微波辐射计数据的全球海洋每日0.25°遥感融合产品。利用无线电探空仪水汽含量观测数据,对生成的全球海洋大气柱水汽含量融合产品进行精度检验。结果表明,总体上,13年间均方根误差和标准差小于3 mm,平均偏差小于0.6 mm,平均绝对偏差小于2 mm,相关系数大于0.98;使用HY-2A微波辐射计数据产品会使融合结果的精度出现微小的降低;AMSR2和HY-2A微波辐射计数据的联合使用对于替代AMSR-E数据具有积极意义。     

Coupling winds to ocean surface currents over the global ocean

A Wind stress–Current Coupled System (WCCS) consisting of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and an improved wind stress algorithm based on Donelan et al. [Donelan, W.M., Drennan, Katsaros, K.B., 1997. The air–sea momentum flux in mixed wind sea and swell conditions. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 27, 2087–2099] is developed by using the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). The WCCS is applied to the global ocean to study the interactions between the wind stress and the ocean surface currents. In this study, the ocean surface current velocity is taken into consideration in the wind stress calculation and air–sea heat flux calculation. The wind stress that contains the effect of ocean surface current velocity will be used to force the HYCOM. The results indicate that the ocean surface velocity exerts an important influence on the wind stress, which, in turn, significantly affects the global ocean surface currents, air–sea heat fluxes, and the thickness of ocean surface boundary layer. Comparison with the TOGA TAO buoy data, the sea surface temperature from the wind–current coupled simulation showed noticeable improvement over the stand-alone HYCOM simulation.     

Particulate organic carbon in the global ocean derived from SeaWiFS ocean color

Satellite remote sensing offers new means of quantifying particulate organic carbon, POC, concentration over large oceanic areas. From SeaWiFS ocean color, we derived 10-year data of POC concentration in the surface waters of the global ocean. The 10-year time series of the global and basin scale average surface POC concentration do not display any significant long-term trends. The annual mean surface POC concentration and its seasonal amplitude are highest in the North Atlantic and lowest in the South Pacific, when compared to other ocean basins. POC anomalies in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and global concentrations seem to be inversely correlated with El Niño index, but longer time series are needed to confirm this relationship. Quantitative estimates of POC reservoir in the oceanic surface layer depend on the choice of what should represent this layer. Global average POC biomass is 1.34 g m^?2 if integrated over one optical depth, 3.62 g m^?2 if integrated over mixed layer depth, and up to 6.41 g m^?2 if integrated over 200-m layer depth (when assumed POC concentration below MLD is 20 mg m^?3). The global estimate of total POC reservoir in the surface 200-m layer of the ocean is 228.61×10¹³ g. We expect that future estimates of POC reservoir may be even larger, when more precise calculations account for deep-water organic-matter maxima in oligotrophic regions, and POC biomass located just below the seasonal mixed layer in spring and summer in the temperate regions.     

Efficient identification of ocean thermodynamics in a physical/biogeochemical ocean model with an iterative Importance Sampling method

Efficient identification of parameters in numerical models remains a computationally demanding problem. Here we present an iterative Importance Sampling approach and demonstrate its application to estimating parameters that control the heat uptake efficiency of a physical/biogeochemical ocean model coupled to a simple atmosphere. The algorithm has similarities to a previously-developed ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF) method applied to similar problems, but is more flexible and powerful in the case of nonlinear models and non-Gaussian uncertainties. The method is somewhat more computationally demanding than the EnKF but may be preferred in cases where the approximations that the EnKF relies upon are unsound. Our results suggest that the three-dimensional structure of ocean tracer fields may act as a useful constraint on ocean mixing and consequently the heat uptake of the climate system under anthropogenic forcing.     

Phytoplankton and iron: validation of a global three-dimensional ocean biogeochemical model

The JGOFS program and NASA ocean-color satellites have provided a wealth of data that can be used to test and validate models of ocean biogeochemistry. A coupled three-dimensional general circulation, biogeochemical, and radiative model of the global oceans was validated using these in situ data sources and satellite data sets. Biogeochemical processes in the model were determined from the influences of circulation and turbulence dynamics, irradiance availability, and the interactions among four phytoplankton functional groups (diatoms, chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, and coccolithophores) and four nutrients (nitrate, ammonium, silica, and dissolved iron).Annual mean log-transformed dissolved iron concentrations in the model were statistically positively correlated on basin scale with observations (P<0.05) over the eight (out of 12) major oceanographic basins where data were available. The model tended to overestimate in situ observations, except in the Antarctic where a large underestimate occurred. Inadequate scavenging and excessive remineralization and/or regeneration were possible reasons for the overestimation.Basin scale model chlorophyll seasonal distributions were positively correlated with SeaWiFS chlorophyll in each of the 12 oceanographic basins (P<0.05). The global mean difference was 3.9% (model higher than SeaWiFS).The four phytoplankton groups were initialized as homogeneous and equal distributions throughout the model domain. After 26 years of simulation, they arrived at reasonable distributions throughout the global oceans: diatoms predominated high latitudes, coastal, and equatorial upwelling areas, cyanobacteria predominated the mid-ocean gyres, and chlorophytes and coccolithophores represented transitional assemblages. Seasonal patterns exhibited a range of relative responses: from a seasonal succession in the North Atlantic with coccolithophores replacing diatoms as the dominant group in mid-summer, to successional patterns with cyanobacteria replacing diatoms in mid-summer in the central North Pacific. Diatoms were associated with regions where nutrient availability was high. Cyanobacteria predominated in quiescent regions with low nutrients.While the overall patterns of phytoplankton functional group distributions exhibited broad qualitative agreement with in situ data, quantitative comparisons were mixed. Three of the four phytoplankton groups exhibited statistically significant correspondence across basins. Diatoms did not. Some basins exhibited excellent correspondence, while most showed moderate agreement, with two functional groups in agreement with data and the other two in disagreement. The results are encouraging for a first attempt at simulating functional groups in a global coupled three-dimensional model but many issues remain.     

Formation and transport of intermediate water masses in a model of the Pacific Ocean

A basin-wide ocean general circulation model of the Pacific Ocean was used to investigate how the interior restoration in the Okhotsk Sea and the isopycnal diffusion affect the circulation and intermediate water masses. Four numerical experiments were conducted, including a run with the same isopycnal and thickness diffusivity of 1.0×103 m2/s, a run employing the interior restoration of temperature and salinity in the Okhotsk Sea with a time scale of 3 months, a run that is the same as the first run except for the enhanced isopycnal mixing, and a final run with the combination of the restoration in the Okhotsk Sea and large isopycnal diffusivity. Simulated results show that the intermediate water masses reproduced in the first run are relatively weak. An increase in isopycnal diffusivity can improve the simulation of both Antarctic and North Pacific intermediate waters, mainly increasing the transport in the interior ocean, but inhibiting the outflow from the Okhotsk Sea. The interior restoration generates the reverse current from the observation in the Okhotsk Sea, whereas the simulation of the temperature and salinity is improved in the high latitude region of the Northern Hemisphere because of the reasonable source of the North Pacific Intermediate Water. A comparison of vertical profiles of temperature and salinity along 50°N between the simulation and observations demonstrates that the vertical mixing in the source region of intermediate water masses is very important.     

Energy budget of surface waves in the global ocean

Mechanical energy input from atmosphere and losses from wave-breaking dissipation of sea surface waves are estimated by a direct scheme. This scheme is based on the integration in the wavenumber space of the wind input and breaking dissipation source functions of the MASNUM wave model. The global amount of wind energy input, averaged in 2005, is about 57 TW, and the wave-breaking dissipation summed in deep-water is about 33 TW, over a half of the wind energy input. The residual may be dissipated by beach processes. Global distributions of the energy input and breaking dissipation concentrate in the westerlies of the Southern Hemisphere.