Modeling a Limited Region of the Ocean

✍ Scribed by Amala Mahadevan; David Archer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 482 KB
• Volume: 145
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9991
• DOI: 10.1006/jcph.1998.6041

✦ Synopsis

Many of the difficulties that arise from the specification of open boundary conditions when modeling a limited region of the ocean with the primitive equations can be overcome by using a nonhydrostatic set of equations that is well posed in open domains even without the viscous term. We simulate the mesoscale flow in a region of the open ocean using the flow fields from a global circulation model to provide initial and boundary data. Information flow across lateral boundaries is specified using the method of characteristics. By modeling the region at higher resolutions than the fields providing boundary conditions, we are able to resolve more structure and processes in the flow than were detectable from the initial and boundary data. This is of value for studying a region of the ocean in detail at moderate computational cost, if initial and boundary data is available. Shortcomings of the characteristics-based formulation of the boundary conditions and limitations in using such a model to selectively refine a region within a coarser model are also examined.