scholarly journals Coastal Upwelling Off Southwest Nova Scotia Simulated With a High-Resolution Baroclinic Ocean Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 2318-2331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Chegini ◽  
Youyu Lu ◽  
Anna Katavouta ◽  
Harold Ritchie
2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 1285-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Heng Tseng ◽  
Shou-Hung Chien ◽  
Jiming Jin ◽  
Norman L. Miller

The air–land–sea interaction in the vicinity of Monterey Bay, California, is simulated and investigated using a new Integrated Regional Model System (I-RMS). This new model realistically resolves coastal processes and submesoscale features that are poorly represented in atmosphere–ocean general circulation models where systematic biases are seen in the long-term model integration. The current I-RMS integrates version 3.1 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and version 3.0 of the Community Land Model with an advanced coastal ocean model, based on the nonhydrostatic Monterey Bay Area Regional Ocean Model. The daily land–sea-breeze circulations and the Santa Cruz eddy are fully resolved using high-resolution grids in the coastal margin. In the ocean, coastal upwelling and submesoscale gyres are also well simulated with this version of the coupled I-RMS. Comparison with observations indicates that the high-resolution, improved representation of ocean dynamics in the I-RMS increases the surface moisture flux and the resulting lower-atmospheric water vapor, a primary controlling mechanism for the enhancement of regional coastal fog formation, particularly along the West Coast of the conterminous United States. The I-RMS results show the importance of detailed ocean feedbacks due to coastal upwelling in the marine atmospheric boundary layer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2995
Author(s):  
Frederick M. Bingham ◽  
Severine Fournier ◽  
Susannah Brodnitz ◽  
Karly Ulfsax ◽  
Hong Zhang

Sea surface salinity (SSS) satellite measurements are validated using in situ observations usually made by surfacing Argo floats. Validation statistics are computed using matched values of SSS from satellites and floats. This study explores how the matchup process is done using a high-resolution numerical ocean model, the MITgcm. One year of model output is sampled as if the Aquarius and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellites flew over it and Argo floats popped up into it. Statistical measures of mismatch between satellite and float are computed, RMS difference (RMSD) and bias. The bias is small, less than 0.002 in absolute value, but negative with float values being greater than satellites. RMSD is computed using an “all salinity difference” method that averages level 2 satellite observations within a given time and space window for comparison with Argo floats. RMSD values range from 0.08 to 0.18 depending on the space–time window and the satellite. This range gives an estimate of the representation error inherent in comparing single point Argo floats to area-average satellite values. The study has implications for future SSS satellite missions and the need to specify how errors are computed to gauge the total accuracy of retrieved SSS values.


1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 866-871 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. Franchito ◽  
V. B. Rao ◽  
J. L. Stech ◽  
J. A. Lorenzzetti

Abstract. The effect of coastal upwelling on sea-breeze circulation in Cabo Frio (Brazil) and the feedback of sea-breeze on the upwelling signal in this region are investigated. In order to study the effect of coastal upwelling on sea-breeze a non-linear, three-dimensional, primitive equation atmospheric model is employed. The model considers only dry air and employs boundary layer formulation. The surface temperature is determined by a forcing function applied to the Earth's surface. In order to investigate the seasonal variations of the circulation, numerical experiments considering three-month means are conducted: January-February-March (JFM), April-May-June (AMJ), July-August-September (JAS) and October-November-December (OND). The model results show that the sea-breeze is most intense near the coast at all the seasons. The sea-breeze is stronger in OND and JFM, when the upwelling occurs, and weaker in AMJ and JAS, when there is no upwelling. Numerical simulations also show that when the upwelling occurs the sea-breeze develops and attains maximum intensity earlier than when it does not occur. Observations show a similar behavior. In order to verify the effect of the sea-breeze surface wind on the upwelling, a two-layer finite element ocean model is also implemented. The results of simulations using this model, forced by the wind generated in the sea-breeze model, show that the sea-breeze effectively enhances the upwelling signal.Key words. Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (mesoscale meteorology; ocean-atmosphere interactions) · Oceanography (numerical modeling)


2021 ◽  
pp. 103613
Author(s):  
Ehsan Sadighrad ◽  
Bettina A. Fach ◽  
Sinan S. Arkin ◽  
Baris Salihoğlu ◽  
Sinan Hüsrevoğlu

Author(s):  
Marc Guyon ◽  
Gurvan Madec ◽  
Maurice Imbard ◽  
François-Xavier Roux
Keyword(s):  

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Natale ◽  
R. Sorgente ◽  
S. Gaberšek ◽  
A. Ribotti ◽  
A. Olita

Abstract. Ocean forecasts over the Central Mediterranean, produced by a near real time regional scale system, have been evaluated in order to assess their predictability. The ocean circulation model has been forced at the surface by a medium, high or very high resolution atmospheric forcing. The simulated ocean parameters have been compared with satellite data and they were found to be generally in good agreement. High and very high resolution atmospheric forcings have been able to form noticeable, although short-lived, surface current structures, due to their ability to detect transient atmospheric disturbances. The existence of the current structures has not been directly assessed due to lack of measurements. The ocean model in the slave mode was not able to develop dynamics different from the driving coarse resolution model which provides the boundary conditions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (23) ◽  
pp. 9409-9432 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Justin Small ◽  
Enrique Curchitser ◽  
Katherine Hedstrom ◽  
Brian Kauffman ◽  
William G. Large

Abstract Of all the major coastal upwelling systems in the world’s oceans, the Benguela, located off southwest Africa, is the one that climate models find hardest to simulate well. This paper investigates the sensitivity of upwelling processes, and of sea surface temperature (SST), in this region to resolution of the climate model and to the offshore wind structure. The Community Climate System Model (version 4) is used here, together with the Regional Ocean Modeling System. The main result is that a realistic wind stress curl at the eastern boundary, and a high-resolution ocean model, are required to well simulate the Benguela upwelling system. When the wind stress curl is too broad (as with a 1° atmosphere model or coarser), a Sverdrup balance prevails at the eastern boundary, implying southward ocean transport extending as far as 30°S and warm advection. Higher atmosphere resolution, up to 0.5°, does bring the atmospheric jet closer to the coast, but there can be too strong a wind stress curl. The most realistic representation of the upwelling system is found by adjusting the 0.5° atmosphere model wind structure near the coast toward observations, while using an eddy-resolving ocean model. A similar adjustment applied to a 1° ocean model did not show such improvement. Finally, the remote equatorial Atlantic response to restoring SST in a broad region offshore of Benguela is substantial; however, there is not a large response to correcting SST in the narrow coastal upwelling zone alone.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document