Toward a generic method for studying water renewal, with application to the epilimnion of Lake Tanganyika

We present a method, based on the concept of age and residence time, to study the water renewal in a semi-enclosed domain. We split the water of this domain into different water types. The initial water is the water initially present in the semi-enclosed domain. The renewing water is defined as the water entering the domain of interest. Several renewing water types may be considered depending on their origin. We present the equations for computing the age and the residence time of a certain water type. These timescales are of use to understand the rate at which the water renewal takes place. Computing these timescales can be achieved at an acceptable extra computer cost.The above-mentioned method is applied to study the renewal of epilimnion (i.e. the surface layer) water in Lake Tanganyika. We have built a finite element reduced-gravity model modified to take into account the water exchange between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion (i.e. the bottom layer), the water supply from precipitation and incoming rivers, and the water loss from evaporation and the only outgoing river. With our water renewal diagnoses, we show that the only significant process in the renewal of epilimnion water in Lake Tanganyika is the water exchange between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion, other phenomena being negligible.     

南海表层水温年循环的数值模拟

本文采用一个非线性约化重力海洋模式对南海表层水温(SST)年循环过程进行了数值研究,探讨了南海表层水温年循环形成和维持的动力学和热力学机制·模拟结果表现出与观测分析相一致的年循环变化阶段性和空间结构,并发现南海SST年循环的阶段性是海面动力强迫和热力强迫共同作用的结果;南海上层海洋的热力平衡有着明显的季节特征.     

Wind-driven, double-gyre, ocean circulation in a reduced-gravity, 2.5-layer, lattice boltzmann model

A coupled lattice Boltzmann （LB） model with second-order accuracy is applied to the reduced-gravity, shallow water, 2.5-layer model for wind-driven double-gyre ocean circulation. By introducing the secondorder integral approximation for the collision operator, the model becomes fully explicit. The Coriolis force and other external forces are included in the model with second-order accuracy, which is consistent with the discretization accuracy of the LB equation. The feature of the multiple equilibria solutions is found in the numerical experiments under different Reynolds numbers based on this LB scheme. With the Reynolds number increasing from 3000 to 4000, the solution of this model is destabilized from the anti-symmetric double-gyre solution to the subtropic gyre solution and then to the subpolar gyre solution. The transitions between these equilibria states are also found in some parameter ranges. The time-dependent variability of the circulation based on this LB simulation is also discussed for varying viscosity regimes. The flow of this model exhibits oscillations with different timescales varying from subannual to interannual. The corresponding statistical oscillation modes are obtained by spectral analysis. By analyzing the spatiotemporal structures of these modes, it is found that the subannual oscillation with a 9-month period originates from the barotropic Rossby basin mode, and the interarmual oscillations with periods ranging from 1.5 years to 4.6 years originate from the recirculation gyre modes, which include the barotropic and the baroclinic recirculation gyre modes.     

Annual Variability of Sea Surface Height and Upper Layer Thickness in the Pacific Ocean

The annual variabilities of the sea surface height in the Pacific Ocean were investigated by analyzing the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite data and by solving a reduced gravity model. We discuss how adequately the simple model can capture the variabilities of the sea surface height, and what the cause of the variabilities is. Three large amplitude peaks in the satellite data are found along the 12°N longitude line. Two elongated zones with a large amplitude are also found: one extends east-west along 6°N and the other extends northwestward from South America around 25°S. These features are adequately reproduced in the numerical simulation of the reduced gravity model. The propagation of the Rossby wave is analyzed by the use of the extended Eliassen-Palm flux to investigate the mechanism of these annual variabilities. The two east peaks around 12°N can be explained in terms of the interference between the local Ekman pumping and the free wave emitted near the western coast of North America, and the most western peak is affected by the Rossby wave formed by the local wind stress. The elongated zonal area around 6°N is mainly due to the local Ekman pumping. Another area around 25°S results from the convergence of the free Rossby wave emitted from the eastern boundary and the area with the strong wind stress curl off South America. A discrepancy between the satellite data and the model results suggests that the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean is relatively calm in the model but not in the satellite data. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rossby波对菲律宾以东太平洋海平面年际变化的影响研究

采用能够反映斜压大洋对大尺度海表面风应力旋度响应的一层半约化重力模式研究菲律宾以东太平洋海区Rossby波与海平面年际变化的关系.模式分别利用海区东侧验潮站和卫星高度计海表面数据作初始东边界,对Rossby波西传路径上的风应力旋度进行积分,得到西侧海平面信号.结果发现,模拟的海平面信号跟验潮站和卫星高度计资料相关性很高,并能模拟出海平面年际变化特征和低(高)异常信号由东侧产生并向西传播的过程,反映了一阶斜压Rossby波对菲律宾以东太平洋海区年际海平面变化的动力机制.     

ENSO to multi-decadal time scale changes in East Australian Current transports and Fort Denison sea level: Oceanic Rossby waves as the connecting mechanism

The connection between East Australian Current (EAC) transport variability and Australia’s east coast sea level has received little treatment in the literature. This is due in part to the complex interacting physical processes operating in the coastal zone combined with the sparsity of observations available to improve our understanding of these possible connections. This study demonstrates a statistically significant (at the >90% level) relationship between interannual to decadal time scale variations in observed estimates of the EAC transport changes and east coast sea level measured at the high-quality, long record Fort Denison tide-gauge in Sydney Harbour, Australia (33°51′18″S, 151°13′32″E). We further demonstrate, using a linear reduced-gravity ocean model, that ENSO to decadal time-scale variations and the ocean-adjusted multi-decadal trend (approx. 1 cm/decade) in observed sea level at Fort Denison are strongly connected to modulations of EAC transports by incoming westward propagating oceanic Rossby waves. We show that EAC transport and Fort Denison sea level vary in a manner expected from both Tasman Sea generated Rossby waves, which account for the interannual and multi-annual variability, and remotely forced (from east of New Zealand) Rossby wave connections through the mid-latitudes, accounting for the ocean-adjusted multi-decadal trend observed at the New South Wales coast - with the regional-Tasman Sea forcing explaining the greatest overall proportion of EAC transport and sea-level variances.     

The effect of sloping bottom topography on the source-driven deep tropical circulation

ImODUCTIONInasedrinalseriesofPapersduringthelatel95osandl96()s,StonimlandANns(l958;l96()a,b)PresentedatheoreticalpictUreofthesoaree-drivendeepcirculaionintheoceanbasedongeOst-cd~cs.ItconsistsofaPole-wAninteriorflowresultingforavortexshetchingassociatedwithaslowuniformuPwellingthInllghouttheocean,andawestemboUndeqctirrentbalancingthemassbudget.Kawse(1987)formulatedalinear,tWo-layerbaxlinicmodeltostud}thedeeptroPicalcirculationdrivenbydeepwaterproduction.DistinctlydifferentfromtheStomm…     

Assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimeter Data with a Reduced Gravity Model of the Japan Sea

Sea level data measured by TOPEX/POSEIDON over the Japan Sea from 1993 to 1994 is analyzed by assimilation using an approximate Kalman filter with a 1.5 layer (reduced-gravity) shallow water model. The study aims to extract signals associated with the first baroclinic mode and to determine the extent of its significance. The assimilation dramatically improves the model south of the Polar Front where as much as 20 cm² of the observed sea level variance can be accounted for. In comparison, little variability in the northern cold water region is found consistent with the model dynamics, possibly due to significant differences in stratification.