Kinetic energy analysis of an eddy resolving, primitive equation model of the North Atlantic

1992 ◽  
Vol 97 (C1) ◽  
pp. 687 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Treguier
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Energy Analysis ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Primitive Equation ◽  
Primitive Equation Model ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

scholarly journals Instability-Driven Benthic Storms below the Separated Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current in a High-Resolution Ocean Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 2283-2303 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Schubert ◽  
Arne Biastoch ◽  
Meghan F. Cronin ◽  
Richard J. Greatbatch
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transfer ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic Current ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Atlantic Current

AbstractBenthic storms are important for both the energy budget of the ocean and for sediment resuspension and transport. Using 30 years of output from a high-resolution model of the North Atlantic, it is found that most of the benthic storms in the model occur near the western boundary in association with the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current, in regions that are generally collocated with the peak near-bottom eddy kinetic energy. A common feature is meander troughs in the near-surface jets that are accompanied by deep low pressure anomalies spinning up deep cyclones with near-bottom velocities of up to more than 0.5 m s−1. A case study of one of these events shows the importance of both baroclinic and barotropic instability of the jet, with energy being extracted from the jet in the upstream part of the meander trough and partly returned to the jet in the downstream part of the meander trough. This motivates examining the 30-yr time mean of the energy transfer from the (annual mean) background flow into the eddy kinetic energy. This quantity is shown to be collocated well with the region in which benthic storms and large increases in deep cyclonic relative vorticity occur most frequently, suggesting an important role for mixed barotropic–baroclinic instability-driven cyclogenesis in generating benthic storms throughout the model simulation. Regions of the largest energy transfer and most frequent benthic storms are found to be the Gulf Stream west of the New England Seamounts and the North Atlantic Current near Flemish Cap.

scholarly journals Atmospheric teleconnection patterns and eddy kinetic energy content: wavelet analysis

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. N. Khokhlov ◽  
A. V. Glushkov ◽  
I. A. Tsenenko
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. In this paper, we employ a non-decimated wavelet decomposition to analyse long-term variations of the teleconnection pattern monthly indices (the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation) and the relationship of these variations with eddy kinetic energy contents (KE) in the atmosphere of mid-latitudes and tropics. Major advantage of using this tool is to isolate short- and long-term components of fluctuations. Such analysis allows revealing basic periodic behaviours for the North Atlantic Oscillations (NAO) indices such as the 4-8-year and the natural change of dominant phase. The main results can be posed as follows. First, if the phases of North Atlantic and Southern Oscillations vary synchronously with the 4-8-year period then the relationship between the variations of the NAO indices and the KE contents is the most appreciable. Second, if the NAO phase tends to abrupt changes then the impact of these variations on the eddy kinetic energy contents in both mid-latitudes and tropics is more significant than for the durational dominance of certain phase.

scholarly journals The Antecedent Large-Scale Conditions of the “Perfect Storms” of Late October and Early November 1991

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
pp. 2546-2569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Cordeira ◽  
Lance F. Bosart
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract The “Perfect Storms” (PSs) were a series of three high-impact extratropical cyclones (ECs) that impacted North America and the North Atlantic in late October and early November 1991. The PSs included the Perfect Storm in the northwest Atlantic, a second EC over the North Atlantic that developed from the interaction of the PS with Hurricane Grace, and a third EC over North America commonly known as the “1991 Halloween Blizzard.” The PSs greatly impacted the North Atlantic and North America with large waves, coastal flooding, heavy snow, and accumulating ice, and they also provided an opportunity to investigate the physical processes that contributed to a downstream baroclinic development (DBD) episode across North America that culminated in the ECs. Downstream baroclinic development resulted from an amplification of the large-scale flow over the North Pacific that was influenced by anomalous tropical convection, the recurvature and extratropical transition of western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones Orchid, Pat, and Ruth, and the subsequent evolution of the extratropical flow. The progression of DBD occurred following the development of a negative PNA regime and the generation of baroclinic instability over North America associated with equatorward-displaced potential vorticity anomalies and poleward-displaced corridors of high moisture content. An analysis of the eddy kinetic energy tendency equation demonstrated that the resulting baroclinic conversion of eddy available potential energy into eddy kinetic energy during the cyclogenesis process facilitated the progression of DBD across North America and the subsequent development of the ECs.

scholarly journals On the Abruptness of Bølling–Allerød Warming

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (13) ◽  
pp. 4965-4975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhan Su ◽  
Andrew P. Ingersoll ◽  
Feng He
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
The North ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract Previous observations and simulations suggest that an approximate 3°–5°C warming occurred at intermediate depths in the North Atlantic over several millennia during Heinrich stadial 1 (HS1), which induces warm salty water (WSW) lying beneath surface cold freshwater. This arrangement eventually generates ocean convective available potential energy (OCAPE), the maximum potential energy releasable by adiabatic vertical parcel rearrangements in an ocean column. The authors find that basin-scale OCAPE starts to appear in the North Atlantic (~67.5°–73.5°N) and builds up over decades at the end of HS1 with a magnitude of about 0.05 J kg−1. OCAPE provides a key kinetic energy source for thermobaric cabbeling convection (TCC). Using a high-resolution TCC-resolved regional model, it is found that this decadal-scale accumulation of OCAPE ultimately overshoots its intrinsic threshold and is released abruptly (~1 month) into kinetic energy of TCC, with further intensification from cabbeling. TCC has convective plumes with approximately 0.2–1-km horizontal scales and large vertical displacements (~1 km), which make TCC difficult to be resolved or parameterized by current general circulation models. The simulation herein indicates that these local TCC events are spread quickly throughout the OCAPE-contained basin by internal wave perturbations. Their convective plumes have large vertical velocities (~8–15 cm s−1) and bring the WSW to the surface, causing an approximate 2°C sea surface warming for the whole basin (~700 km) within a month. This exposes a huge heat reservoir to the atmosphere, which helps to explain the abrupt Bølling–Allerød warming.

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