Ekman Friction and the Formation of Upper Tropospheric Zonal Flows

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The influence of the Ekman friction on the dynamics of zonal flows (ZFs) has been studied within the framework of a quasigeostrophic model of the...     

A New Class of Edge Baroclinic Waves and the Mechanism of Their Generation

Edge baroclinic waves are generated in a geostrophic flow with a vertical shear near a solid surface. The study investigates a new class of baroclinic waves in flows with horizontal and vertical shears and a linear distribution of potential vorticity. It is shown that taking account of the horizontal shear leads to the appearance of new features of wave dynamics. These include the nonmodal growth of energy in the initial stage of development, the time dependence of the vertical wave scale, and the possibility of generation of stationary or blocked waves. The horizontal shear makes the mechanism of generation of baroclinic waves by initial vortex perturbations more efficient. One important feature is associated with vortex paths, which are formed by the superposition of a baroclinic wave on the flow with horizontal shear.     

斜压海洋能量传递对风场的响应

风是海水运动的重要动力因素,也是海洋内部的主要能量来源.本文在应用陆架海洋模式HAMSOM对东中国海海水运动进行数值模拟的基础上,通过傅里叶变换、旋转谱分析等研究方法,对风向海洋的能量输运进行研究.研究结果显示,风场向海洋输运的最有效途径是风杨扰动量与流场扰动量的相互作用;惯性能量主要来源于海洋表层,由风场提供,向下传递;而潮频率能量大部分来自海底的内潮与底地形相互作用,向上传递.     

Baroclinic wind adjustment processes in the Mediterranean Sea

The wind-driven general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea is studied using a primitive equation model. The model uses a 0.25° horizontal resolution and eight or 16 levels in the vertical. The model uses the Mediterranean basin geometry, and the Strait of Gibraltar is closed. The vertical density structure is initialized with annual average data, and the temperature and salinity values are fixed at the surface to simulate perpetual annual mean conditions. The wind forcing consists of monthly mean climatological stresses.The results show that the general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea has a multiple time-scale character (seasonal excursions and steady state amplitudes are comparable) and it is composed by sub-basin scale gyres corresponding to the scale of the wind stress curl centers. The steady state circulation (annual mean average) is determined by a Sverdrup balacne modified by viscous effects.The unsteady vertically integrated transport circulation consists of sub-basin scale gyres similar to the steady state transport components, which amplify seasonally and the partial or total reversal of the currents in many subportions of the basin. The gyres can be stationary in position or propagating. This seasonal ocean response is partly constituted by Rossby modes due to the wind stress curl annual harmonic. The baroclinic circulation shows the seasonal shift of the North African Current from a position along the African coasts during winter to the center of the Balearic and Ionian basin during summer.     

Higher Harmonics Induced by Waves Propagating over A Submerged Obstacle in the Presence of Uniform Current

To investigate higher harmonics induced by a submerged obstacle in the presence of uniform current, a 2D fully nonlinear numerical wave flume（NWF） is developed by use of a time-domain higher-order boundary element method（HOBEM） based on potential flow theory. A four-point method is developed to decompose higher bound and free harmonic waves propagating upstream and downstream around the obstacle. The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data for free harmonics induced by a submerged horizontal cylinder in the absence of currents. This serves as a benchmark to reveal the current effects on higher harmonic waves. The peak value of non-dimensional second free harmonic amplitude is shifted upstream for the opposing current relative to that for zero current with the variation of current-free incident wave amplitude, and it is vice versa for the following current. The second-order analysis shows a resonant behavior which is related to the ratio of the cylinder diameter to the second bound mode wavelength over the cylinder. The second-order resonant position slightly downshifted for the opposing current and upshifted for the following current.     

第一斜压Rossby波在大洋传播中的调整

利用全球气候平均态的1°×1°的温度、盐度资料,根据Sturm-Liouville本征值理论,得到全球1°×1°的第一斜压Rossby变形半径λ1。根据层结流体中线性自由Rossby波理论,可知第一斜压Rossby波位相速度为βλ21,故由全球各个大洋海盆的宽度可得到第一斜压Rossby波在各大洋海盆中从东边界传到西边界的时间。由于第一斜压Rossby波在高纬海区传播非常慢,而南极绕极海区又是最宽的海盆,所以第一斜压Rossby波在此海区的调整时间最长。在简单的线性自由Rossby波理论下,南极绕极通道是全球Rossby波调整的控制海区。     

关于海洋中的正压流和斜压流问题的讨论

关于海洋中的正压流和斜坛流的概念，目前存在着３种不同的提法．本文首先分别简述它们在定义上的差别，然后对３种定义在理解海流性质问题上的长、短处加以评述。一些理论物理海洋学家依据地转关系式，把与海面倾斜相连系的流视为正压流部分，而与密度不均匀性有关的视为斜压流部分。笔者认为这种定义在物理概念上是清楚，在实际应用中是方便，因此在讨论海流性质时最好采用这种观点。     

Baroclinic eddies south of Cheju Island in the East China Sea

The detailed structures of baroclinic eddies, that is, an anticlockwise circulation in the upper layer and a clockwise one in the lower layer south of Cheju Island in the East China Sea have been revealed by intensive field observation. Such baroclinic eddies are accompanied by the southward spreading of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water.     

Nonlinear Model of the Ekman Boundary Layer in the Generalized Vorticity Equation

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - Approximations are proposed for the Ekman thickness scale, in which the Coriolis parameter is replaced by absolute vorticity to consider the variability...     

Roughness length in the turbulent Ekman layer above the sea bed

Roughness lengths were determined from average current profiles in the logarithmic boundary layer at a site in the southern North Sea. Grab samples indicated that the bed configuration controlling the bed roughness was unlikely to change even at maximum spring tides, but the measured roughness lengths were found to decrease as the speed of the flow 10 m above the bed increased. This has been qualitatively interpreted in terms of the size of the turbulent eddies within the flow and their effectiveness at “feeling” the size of the elements forming the bed roughness. It is also shown that the dependence of the observed drag coefficient on the Rossby number follows closely the theoretical form when the roughness length decreases with increasing flow speed.     

The effect of Stokes drift on Ekman transport in the open sea

By introducing the wave-induced Coriolis-Stokes forcing into ageostrophic motion equation,the Eulerian transport is modified by the wave-induced Stokes drift.The long-term mean contributions of the Stokes transport with remotely generated swells being included to the ageostrophic transport are analyzed using the ECMWF(European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) reanalysis data.The ratio of Stokes transport to Ekman transport in north-south(N-S) direction can reach a maximum of over 50% in the subtropical region.The preliminary influence of the Stokes transport on the North Pacific gyre is all year persistent,while the effect on the North Atlantic gyre is only obvious in boreal winter and early spring.     

Investigation of Barotropic and Baroclinic Seiches in Bounded Sea Basins

We present a survey of works carried out at the Wave-Theory Department of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for the last ten years and devoted to investigation of free and forced waves in bounded basins. Our attention is focused on the results of investigation of internal waves in basins of variable depth for the case of three-layer stratification of the liquid. The profiles of the bottom of the basin and interfaces are regarded as parabolic. Analytic solutions are obtained and the periods of oscillations of the free surface and interfaces for the first and second modes are determined. The dependences of the characteristics of baroclinic waves on the geometry of the basin and parameters of stratification are analyzed.     

渤海夏季第一斜压罗斯贝变形半径的计算与分析

利用渤海2006年夏季大面观测的CTD温盐资料,分别运用WKB近似和数值方法计算了渤海夏季第一斜压罗斯贝变形半径和第一斜压重力波相速度。结果显示,两种不同算法得出的斜压罗斯贝变形半径和斜压重力波相速度的分布格局相似,与渤海等深线分布大体一致。数值解法下,在北戴河和长兴岛附近海域,斜压罗斯贝变形半径较大,最大为4.72km,对应的斜压重力波相速度最大为0.44m/s;在莱州湾海域,斜压罗斯贝变形半径较小,最大仅为1.76km,对应的斜压重力波相速度最大为0.16m/s;在渤海中部斜压罗斯贝变形半径和斜压重力波相速度的等值线发生明显弯曲,在靠近渤海海峡内侧出现一个极小值,而与之对应在渤海中部以西出现一个极大值,导致变形半径的等值线呈NE-SW向倾斜的"S"状。渤海夏季第一斜压罗斯贝变形半径在WKB近似下的结果较低于数值解法求出的结果,这主要是因为,WKB近似依赖于浮性频率对水深的积分,适用于浮性频率垂向变化较弱的情况,渤海夏季浮性频率垂向变化较大,WKB近似得出的结果误差较大。     

Baroclinic seiches in rotating basins of variable depth in the case of two-layer density stratification

We solve a plane problem of linear baroclinic seiches in closed rotating basins of variable depth with two-layer density stratification. In the long-wave approximation, we get a boundary-value problem for a system of ordinary differential equations and propose a numerical procedure for finding internal seiches. The analytic solutions of the problem are obtained for a basin of constant depth. The numerical analysis of seiches is performed for the distributions of depth corresponding to the zonal and meridional sections of the Black Sea and model basins including the cases of a shelf zone and an underwater ridge. It is shown that the baroclinic seiches become more intense in shallow-water regions and that the intense longshore currents caused by Earth’s rotation are formed in the shelf zones and over the underwater ridges.     

The effects of random surface waves on the steady Ekman current solutions

The response of near-surface current profiles to wind and random surface waves are studied based on the approach of Jenkins [1989. The use of a wave prediction model for driving a near surface current model. Dtsch. Hydrogr. Z. 42, 134–149] and Tang et al. [2007. Observation and modeling of surface currents on the Grand Banks: a study of the wave effects on surface currents. J. Geophys. Res. 112, C10025, doi:10.1029/2006JC004028]. Analytic steady solutions are presented for wave-modified Ekman equations resulting from Stokes drift, wind input and wave dissipation for a depth-independent constant eddy viscosity coefficient and one that varies linearly with depth. The parameters involved in the solutions can be determined by the two-dimensional wavenumber spectrum of ocean waves, wind speed, the Coriolis parameter and the densities of air and water, and the solutions reduce to those of Lewis and Belcher [2004. Time-dependent, coupled, Ekman boundary layer solutions incorporating Stokes drift. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans. 37, 313–351] when only the effects of Stokes drift are included. As illustrative examples, for a fully developed wind-generated sea with different wind speeds, wave-modified current profiles are calculated and compared with the classical Ekman theory and Lewis and Belcher's [2004. Time-dependent, coupled, Ekman boundary layer solutions incorporating Stokes drift. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans 37, 313–351] modification by using the Donelan and Pierson [1987. Radar scattering and equilibrium ranges in wind-generated waves with application to scatterometry. J. Geophys. Res. 92, 4971–5029] wavenumber spectrum, the WAM wave model formulation for wind input energy to waves, and wave energy dissipation converted to currents. Illustrative examples for a fully developed sea and the comparisons between observations and the theoretical predictions demonstrate that the effects of the random surface waves on the classical Ekman current are important, as they change qualitatively the nature of the Ekman layer. But the effects of the wind input and wave dissipation on surface current are small, relative to the impact of the Stokes drift.     

Study of the Neutral Ekman Flow Using an Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model

A recently developed fully explicit algebraic model of Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux in a thermally stratified planetary atmospheric boundary layer without stratification has been used for a numerical study of the Ekman turbulent boundary layer over a homogeneous rough surface for different dimensionless surface Rossby numbers. A comparative analysis has been conducted for a closure model of the transport term in the prognostic equation of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation including third-order moments. Dependences of the total wind rotation angle on the Rossby number have been obtained. The calculated vertical profiles of mean velocity, turbulent stress, turbulent kinetic energy, surface-friction velocity, and boundary-layer height agree satisfactorily with observational and earlier obtained LES data.     

Ekman抽吸对南海海面升高变化的贡献

利用NECP海表风场资料和T/P卫星高度计资料,研究风场通过Ekman抽吸对南海海面升高变化的贡献。通过分析发现:对于南海200 m以深区域的平均海面升高的变化,Ekman抽吸在1月和2月份起到主要作用,其他月份和海面升高变化反号。在年际尺度上,Ekman抽吸的EOF第二模态对海面高度的第一模态具有紧密的联系。     

Baroclinic pressure gradient difference schemes of subtracting the local averaged density stratification in sigma coordinates models

Much has been written of the error in computing the baroclinic pressure gradient (BPG) with sigma coordinates in ocean or atmos- pheric numerical models. The usual way to reduce the error is to subtract area-averaged density stratification of the whole computa- tion region. But if there is great difference between the area-averaged and the local averaged density stratification, the error will be obvious. An example is given to show that the error from this method may be larger than that from no correction sometimes. The definition of local area is put forward. Then, four improved BPG difference schemes of subtracting the local averaged density strat- ification are designed to reduce the error. Two of them are for diagnostic calculation (density field is fixed), and the others are for prognostic calculation (density field is not fixed). The results show that the errors from these schemes all significantly decrease.     

高频表面波对定常Ekman流解的影响

基于Jenkins(1989)建立的包含Stokes漂流、风输入和波耗散影响的修正Ekman模型,采用Paskyabi等(2012)使用的推广的Donelan等(1987)中的谱和波耗散函数,并利用Paskyabi等(2012)中修正方法给出的包含高频波的风输入函数,在粘性不依赖于水深及粘性随深度线性变化的条件下,研究了包含高频毛细重力波的随机表面波对Stokes漂流和Song(2009)导出的波浪修正定常Ekman流解的影响。结果表明高频表面波使Stokes漂流在海表面剪切加强,对定常Ekamn流解的影响通常不能忽略,但对Ekman流场的角度偏转影响很小。最后,将考虑高频表面波尾谱影响所估算的定常Ekman流解与已有观测结果以及经典Ekman解进行了比对分析。