The challenge of integrating the environment into policy-making: Part 2: The Norwegian Governmental view

The paper briefly discusses the view and actions of the Norwegian Government in relation to environmental protection and development and the minimization of the effects of industry. Governments and supra-national bodies, industry, municipal bodies, science and training bodies and voluntary and non-governmental organizations all have a major and integrated role in protecting the environment. It is emphasized that as many of the problems are transboundary and trans-sectoral their solution requires an intersectoral approach.     

The surface boundary condition in nonhydrostatic ocean models

With increasing resolution in numerical ocean models, nonhydrostatic pressure effects have to be accounted for. In sigma-coordinate mode split ocean models, this pressure may be regarded as a pressure correction. An elliptic equation must be solved for the nonhydrostatic pressure, and the gradients are used to correct the provisional hydrostatic velocity components in each time step. The focus in the present work is on the surface boundary condition for the elliptic equation. In the literature, both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are suggested and applied. To investigate the sensitivity of the numerical results to the choice of boundary condition, three numerical experiments are performed. The first and second experiments are studies of the propagation and steepening of nonlinear internal waves. The first study is on tank scale and the second experiment is on ocean scale. In the tank-scale experiment, the density and the flow fields are very robust to the choice of boundary condition. In the ocean-scale experiment, the waves produced with a Dirichlet boundary condition become more damped than the waves produced with a Neumann boundary condition. The third study involves a surface buoyant jet. It is shown that well-known characteristics of the plume front are reproduced with a Neumann boundary condition, but the rotating turbulent core of this front is lost with a Dirichlet condition. It is accordingly argued that the appropriate surface boundary condition in mode split nonhydrostatic ocean models is the Neumann condition.     

On the response of a free span pipeline subjected to ocean currents

A mechanistic study is performed to examine the coupling between the in-line and the cross-flow motion of a cylindrical structure subjected to current forces. The structure represents a free span pipeline but concerns marine risers as well.A time domain model is formulated in which the in-line and cross-flow deflections are coupled through the axial tension which in turn is computed from the pipeline prolongation at any time. This formulation introduces time dependent tensions and non-linearity into the problem.Preliminary validation of the model simulations vs. physical test data are carried out for one specific case to ensure that the sag and the in-line deflection are correctly resolved by the model. Using this as the initial condition a series of calculations are carried out to examine cross-flow induced deflections induced by an in-line prescribed deflection and vice versa. Finally, an idealistic simulation of flow induced vibration is presented.The model simulations demonstrate that the coupling varies with the mode shape and with which component it is initially introduced into. However, it is evident that the coupling effects may be significant and not negligible.     

Effects of the bottom boundary condition in numerical investigations of dense water cascading on a slope

The flow of dense water along continental slopes is considered. There is a large literature on the topic based on observations and laboratory experiments. In addition, there are many analytical and numerical studies of dense water flows. In particular, there is a sequence of numerical investigations using the dynamics of overflow mixing and entrainment (DOME) setup. In these papers, the sensitivity of the solutions to numerical parameters such as grid size and numerical viscosity coefficients and to the choices of methods and models is investigated. In earlier DOME studies, three different bottom boundary conditions and a range of vertical grid sizes are applied. In other parts of the literature on numerical studies of oceanic gravity currents, there are statements that appear to contradict choices made on bottom boundary conditions in some of the DOME papers. In the present study, we therefore address the effects of the bottom boundary condition and vertical resolution in numerical investigations of dense water cascading on a slope. The main finding of the present paper is that it is feasible to capture the bottom Ekman layer dynamics adequately and cost efficiently by using a terrain-following model system using a quadratic drag law with a drag coefficient computed to give near-bottom velocity profiles in agreement with the logarithmic law of the wall. Many studies of dense water flows are performed with a quadratic bottom drag law and a constant drag coefficient. It is shown that when using this bottom boundary condition, Ekman drainage will not be adequately represented. In other studies of gravity flow, a no-slip bottom boundary condition is applied. With no-slip and a very fine resolution near the seabed, the solutions are essentially equal to the solutions obtained with a quadratic drag law and a drag coefficient computed to produce velocity profiles matching the logarithmic law of the wall. However, with coarser resolution near the seabed, there may be a substantial artificial blocking effect when using no-slip.     

The role of eddies on pathways,transports, and entrainment in dense water flows along a slope

Ocean Dynamics - The flow of dense water along slopes has been investigated in several numerical investigations based on the Dynamics of Overflow Mixing and Entrainment (DOME) setup. In the present...     

Non-hydrostatic pressure in σ-coordinate ocean models

Numerical ocean modelling is computationally very demanding. Traditionally, the hydrostatic approximation has been applied to reduce the computational burden. This approximation is valid in large scale studies with coarse grid resolution. With faster computers and gradually smaller grid sizes, we may expect that more studies will be performed with non-hydrostatic ocean models. In recent papers several methods for including non-hydrostatic pressure in σ-coordinate models have been suggested. In this paper the sensitivity of the non-hydrostatic pressure field, the velocity fields, and the density fields to changes in the method for computing non-hydrostatic pressure in σ-coordinate ocean models is addressed.The first test case used involves the propagation and breaking of an internal wave at an incline in a tank. The other test case concerns tidally driven flow over a sill in a stratified fjord. The results from our numerical exercises suggest that the velocity and density fields are very robust to the model choices investigated here. The differences between the model results are of the same order as the uncertainty due to the internal pressure gradient error, and they are smaller than an estimate of the uncertainty due to subgrid scale closure.     

Numerical modelling of organic waste dispersion from fjord located fish farms

In this study, a three-dimensional particle tracking model coupled to a terrain following ocean model is used to investigate the dispersion and the deposition of fish farm particulate matter (uneaten food and fish faeces) on the seabed due to tidal currents. The particle tracking model uses the computed local flow field for advection of the particles and random movement to simulate the turbulent diffusion. Each particle is given a settling velocity which may be drawn from a probability distribution according to settling velocity measurements of faecal and feed pellets. The results show that the maximum concentration of organic waste for fast sinking particles is found under the fish cage and continue monotonically decreasing away from the cage area. The maximum can split into two maximum peaks located at both sides of the centre of the fish cage area in the current direction. This process depends on the sinking time (time needed for a particle to settle at the bottom), the tidal velocity and the fish cage size. If the sinking time is close to a multiple of the tidal period, the maximum concentration point will be under the fish cage irrespective of the tide strength. This is due to the nature of the tidal current first propagating the particles away and then bringing them back when the tide reverses. Increasing the cage size increases the likelihood for a maximum waste accumulation beneath the fish farm, and larger farms usually means larger biomasses which can make the local pollution even more severe. The model is validated by using an analytical model which uses an exact harmonic representation of the tidal current, and the results show an excellent agreement. This study shows that the coupled ocean and particle model can be used in more realistic applications to help estimating the local environmental impact due to fish farms.     

Numerical simulation of internal solitary wave—induced reverse flow and associated vortices in a shallow,two-layer fluid benthic boundary layer

The wave-induced velocity and pressure fields beneath a large amplitude internal solitary wave of depression propagating over a smooth, flat, horizontal, and rigid boundary in a shallow two-layer fluid are computed numerically. A numerical ocean model is utilised, the set-up of which is designed and tuned to replicate the previously published experimental results of Carr and Davies (Phys Fluids 18(1):016,601–1–016,601–10, 2006). Excellent agreement is found between the two data sets and, in particular, the numerical simulation replicates the finding of a reverse flow along the bed aft of the wave. The numerically computed velocity and pressure gradients confirm that the occurrence of the reverse flow is a consequence of boundary layer separation in the adverse pressure gradient region. In addition, vortices associated with the reverse flow are seen to form near the bed.     

Introducing top-down methods in assessing compliance with the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract

The Kyoto Protocol has an ambitious reporting and review system to assess Parties' compliance with their emission commitments. It is based on a ‘bottom-up’ approach; that is, each Party is required to submit detailed inventories of emissions and removals. This requires considerable resources and may still not detect all important cases of non-compliance. We consider the case for introducing ‘top-down’ methods; that is, independent inverse modelling methods that calculate probable emissions using measured concentrations of gases in the atmosphere and meteorological models. We argue that the top-down methods are at present too inaccurate, too cumbersome, and politically too problematic to serve as independent alternatives to the reported emission inventories for assessing compliance, although they could be useful in monitoring the global success of the protocol. We conclude that these top-down approaches may supplement the traditional emission inventories, in particular those dealing with fluorinated gases, thereby providing input for improving the emission inventory methods.