Finding Multiple Basin Modes in a Linear Ocean Model

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1033-1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury Vikhliaev ◽  
Paul Schopf ◽  
Tim DelSole ◽  
Ben Kirtman

A method for finding the most unstable eigenmodes in linear models using the breeding technique was developed. The breeding technique was extended to allow for the calculation of complex eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the linear model operator without involving computationally expensive matrix manipulations. While the breeding method finds the most unstable modes, multiple planetary basin modes may be found by removing the leading modes using the adjoint model. To test the sensitivity of basin modes to model formulation, the method was applied for the calculation of the gravest planetary basin modes in a reduced-gravity linear shallow water model with complex basin geometry and background circulation. It was found that the leading basin modes are not sensitive to the form of the dissipation or model resolution, suggesting that the decadal modes are robust. However, the properties of the low-frequency modes are strongly affected by the basin geometry and the mean flow.

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 2095-2113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ru Chen ◽  
Glenn R. Flierl

AbstractLow-frequency oceanic motions have banded structures termed “striations.” Since these striations embedded in large-scale gyre flows can have large amplitudes, the authors investigated the effect of mean flow on their directions as well as their contribution to energetics and mixing using a β-plane, barotropic, quasigeostrophic ocean model. In spite of the model simplicity, striations are always found to exist regardless of the imposed barotropic mean flow. However, their properties are sensitive to the mean flow. Rhines jets move with the mean flow and are not necessarily striations. If the meridional component of the mean flow is large, Rhines jets become high-frequency motions; low-frequency striations still exist, but they are nonzonal, have small magnitudes, and contribute little to energetics and mixing. Otherwise, striations are zonal, dominated by Rhines jets, and contribute significantly to energetics and mixing. This study extends the theory of β-plane, barotropic turbulence, driven by white noise forcing at small scales, to include the effect of a constant mean flow. Theories developed in this study, based upon the Galilean invariance property, illustrate that the barotropic mean flow has no effect on total mixing rates, but does affect the energy cascades in the frequency domain. Diagnostic frameworks developed here can be useful to quantify the striations’ contribution to energetics and mixing in the ocean and more realistic models. A novel diagnostic formula is applied to estimating eddy diffusivities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 2485-2497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Claus ◽  
Richard J. Greatbatch ◽  
Peter Brandt

Abstract A representation of an equatorial basin mode excited in a shallow-water model for a single high-order baroclinic vertical normal mode is used as a simple model for the equatorial deep jets. The model is linearized about both a state of rest and a barotropic mean flow corresponding to the observed Atlantic Equatorial Intermediate Current System. It was found that the eastward mean flow associated with the North and South Intermediate Counter Currents (NICC and SICC, respectively) effectively shields the equator from off-equatorial Rossby waves. The westward propagation of these waves is blocked, and focusing on the equator due to beta dispersion is prevented. This leads to less energetic jets along the equator. On the other hand, the westward barotropic mean flow along the equator reduces the gradient of absolute vorticity and hence widens the cross-equatorial structure of the basin mode. Increasing lateral viscosity predominantly affects the width of the basin modes’ Kelvin wave component in the presence of the mean flow, while the Rossby wave is confined by the flanking NICC and SICC. Independent of the presence of the mean flow, the application of sufficient lateral mixing also hinders the focusing of off-equatorial Rossby waves, which is hence an unlikely feature of a low-frequency basin mode in the real ocean.


2012 ◽  
Vol 695 ◽  
pp. 199-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Goldstein ◽  
Adrian Sescu ◽  
M. Z. Afsar

AbstractIt is now well-known that there is an exact formula relating the far-field jet noise spectrum to the convolution product of a propagator (that accounts for the mean flow interactions) and a generalized Reynolds stress autocovariance tensor (that accounts for the turbulence fluctuations). The propagator depends only on the mean flow and an adjoint vector Green’s function for a particular form of the linearized Euler equations. Recent numerical calculations of Karabasov, Bogey & Hynes (AIAA Paper 2011-2929) for a Mach 0.9 jet show use of the true non-parallel flow Green’s function rather than the more conventional locally parallel flow result leads to a significant increase in the predicted low-frequency sound radiation at observation angles close to the downstream jet axis. But the non-parallel flow appears to have little effect on the sound radiated at $9{0}^{\ensuremath{\circ} } $ to the downstream axis. The present paper is concerned with the effects of non-parallel mean flows on the adjoint vector Green’s function. We obtain a low-frequency asymptotic solution for that function by solving a very simple second-order hyperbolic equation for a composite dependent variable (which is directly proportional to a pressure-like component of this Green’s function and roughly corresponds to the strength of a monopole source within the jet). Our numerical calculations show that this quantity remains fairly close to the corresponding parallel flow result at low Mach numbers and that, as expected, it converges to that result when an appropriately scaled frequency parameter is increased. But the convergence occurs at progressively higher frequencies as the Mach number increases and the supersonic solution never actually converges to the parallel flow result in the vicinity of a critical- layer singularity that occurs in that solution. The dominant contribution to the propagator comes from the radial derivative of a certain component of the adjoint vector Green’s function. The non-parallel flow has a large effect on this quantity, causing it (and, therefore, the radiated sound) to increase at subsonic speeds and decrease at supersonic speeds. The effects of acoustic source location can be visualized by plotting the magnitude of this quantity, as function of position. These ‘altitude plots’ (which represent the intensity of the radiated sound as a function of source location) show that while the parallel flow solutions exhibit a single peak at subsonic speeds (when the source point is centred on the initial shear layer), the non-parallel solutions exhibit a double peak structure, with the second peak occurring about two potential core lengths downstream of the nozzle. These results are qualitatively consistent with the numerical calculations reported in Karabasov et al. (2011).


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (23) ◽  
pp. 9332-9349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wu ◽  
Zhiping Wen ◽  
Renguang Wu

Abstract Part I of this study examined the modulation of the monsoon trough (MT) on tropical depression (TD)-type–mixed Rossby–gravity (MRG) and equatorial Rossby (ER) waves over the western North Pacific based on observations. This part investigates the interaction of these waves with the MT through a diagnostics of energy conversion that separates the effect of the MT on TD–MRG and ER waves. It is found that the barotropic conversion associated with the MT is the most important mechanism for the growth of eddy energy in both TD–MRG and ER waves. The large rotational flows help to maintain the rapid growth and tilted horizontal structure of the lower-tropospheric waves through a positive feedback between the wave growth and horizontal structure. The baroclinic conversion process associated with the MT contributes a smaller part for TD–MRG waves, but is of importance comparable to barotropic conversion for ER waves as it can produce the tilted vertical structure. The growth rates of the waves are much larger during strong MT years than during weak MT years. Numerical experiments are conducted for an idealized MRG or ER wave using a linear shallow-water model. The results confirm that the monsoon background flow can lead to an MRG-to-TD transition and the ER wave amplifies along the axis of the MT and is more active in the strong MT state. Those results are consistent with the findings in Part I. This indicates that the mean flow of the MT provides a favorable background condition for the development of the waves and acts as a key energy source.


2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 2042-2060 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Ortland ◽  
M. Joan Alexander ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell

Abstract Convective heating profiles are computed from one month of rainfall rate and cloud-top height measurements using global Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and infrared cloud-top products. Estimates of the tropical wave response to this heating and the mean flow forcing by the waves are calculated using linear and nonlinear models. With a spectral resolution up to zonal wavenumber 80 and frequency up to 4 cpd, the model produces 50%–70% of the zonal wind acceleration required to drive a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). The sensitivity of the wave spectrum to the assumed shape of the heating profile, to the mean wind and temperature structure of the tropical troposphere, and to the type of model used is also examined. The redness of the heating spectrum implies that the heating strongly projects onto Hough modes with small equivalent depth. Nonlinear models produce wave flux significantly smaller than linear models due to what appear to be dynamical processes that limit the wave amplitude. Both nonlinearity and mean winds in the lower stratosphere are effective in reducing the Rossby wave response to heating relative to the response in a linear model for a mean state at rest.


Author(s):  
Sahib Singh Chawla

The laminar boundary layer on a magnetized plate, when the magnetic field oscillates in magnitude about a constant non-zero mean, is analysed. For low-frequency fluctuations the solution is obtained by a series expansion in terms of a frequency parameter, while for high frequencies the flow pattern is of the ‘skin-wave’ type unaffected by the mean flow. In the low-frequency range, the phase lead and the amplitude of the skin-friction oscillations increase at first and then decrease to their respective ‘skin-wave’ values. On the other hand the phase angle of the surface current decreases from 90° to 45° and its amplitude increases with frequency.


2016 ◽  
Vol 788 ◽  
pp. 521-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Joel Sundstrom ◽  
Berhanu G. Mulu ◽  
Michel J. Cervantes

Wall shear stress measurements employing a hot-film sensor along with laser Doppler velocimetry measurements of the axial and tangential velocity and turbulence profiles in a pulsating turbulent pipe flow are presented. Time-mean and phase-averaged results are derived from measurements performed at pulsation frequencies ${\it\omega}^{+}={\it\omega}{\it\nu}/\bar{u}_{{\it\tau}}^{2}$ over the range of 0.003–0.03, covering the low-frequency, intermediate and quasi-laminar regimes. In addition to the base case of a single pulsation imposed on the mean flow, the study also investigates the flow response when two pulsations are superimposed simultaneously. The measurements from the base case show that, when the pulsation belongs to the quasi-laminar regime, the oscillating flow tends towards a laminar state in which the velocity approaches the purely viscous Stokes solution with a low level of turbulence. For ${\it\omega}^{+}<0.006$, the oscillating flow is turbulent and exhibits a region with a logarithmic velocity distribution and a collapse of the turbulence intensities, similar to the time-averaged counterparts. In the low-frequency regime, the oscillating wall shear stress is shown to be directly proportional to the Stokes length normalized in wall units $l_{s}^{+}~(=\sqrt{2/{\it\omega}^{+}})$, as predicted by quasi-steady theory. The base case measurements are used as a reference when evaluating the data from the double-frequency case and the oscillating quantities are shown to be close to superpositions from the base case. The previously established view that the time-averaged quantities are unaffected by the imposition of small-amplitude pulsed unsteadiness is shown to hold also when two pulsations are superposed on the mean flow.


2012 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 320-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Malm ◽  
Philipp Schlatter ◽  
Dan S. Henningson

AbstractDominant frequencies and coherent structures are investigated in a turbulent, three-dimensional and separated diffuser flow at $\mathit{Re}= 10\hspace{0.167em} 000$ (based on bulk velocity and inflow-duct height), where mean flow characteristics were first studied experimentally by Cherry, Elkins and Eaton (Intl J. Heat Fluid Flow, vol. 29, 2008, pp. 803–811) and later numerically by Ohlsson et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 650, 2010, pp. 307–318). Coherent structures are educed by proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the flow, which together with time probes located in the flow domain are used to extract frequency information. The present study shows that the flow contains multiple phenomena, well separated in frequency space. Dominant large-scale frequencies in a narrow band $\mathit{St}\equiv fh/ {u}_{b} \in [0. 0092, 0. 014] $ (where $h$ is the inflow-duct height and ${u}_{b} $ is the bulk velocity), yielding time periods ${T}^{\ensuremath{\ast} } = T{u}_{b} / h\in [70, 110] $, are deduced from the time signal probes in the upper separated part of the diffuser. The associated structures identified by the POD are large streaks arising from a sinusoidal oscillating motion in the diffuser. Their individual contributions to the total kinetic energy, dominated by the mean flow, are, however, small. The reason for the oscillating movement in this low-frequency range is concluded to be the confinement of the flow in this particular geometric set-up in combination with the high Reynolds number and the large separated zone on the top diffuser wall. Based on this analysis, it is shown that the bulk of the streamwise root mean square (r.m.s.) value arises due to large-scale motion, which in turn can explain the appearance of two or more peaks in the streamwise r.m.s. value. The weak secondary flow present in the inflow duct is shown to survive into the diffuser, where it experiences an imbalance with respect to the upper expanding corners, thereby giving rise to the asymmetry of the mean separated region in the diffuser.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1356-1375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Delman ◽  
Julie L. McClean ◽  
Janet Sprintall ◽  
Lynne D. Talley ◽  
Elena Yulaeva ◽  
...  

AbstractEddy–mean flow interactions along the Kuroshio Extension (KE) jet are investigated using a vorticity budget of a high-resolution ocean model simulation, averaged over a 13-yr period. The simulation explicitly resolves mesoscale eddies in the KE and is forced with air–sea fluxes representing the years 1995–2007. A mean-eddy decomposition in a jet-following coordinate system removes the variability of the jet path from the eddy components of velocity; thus, eddy kinetic energy in the jet reference frame is substantially lower than in geographic coordinates and exhibits a cross-jet asymmetry that is consistent with the baroclinic instability criterion of the long-term mean field. The vorticity budget is computed in both geographic (i.e., Eulerian) and jet reference frames; the jet frame budget reveals several patterns of eddy forcing that are largely attributed to varicose modes of variability. Eddies tend to diffuse the relative vorticity minima/maxima that flank the jet, removing momentum from the fast-moving jet core and reinforcing the quasi-permanent meridional meanders in the mean jet. A pattern associated with the vertical stretching of relative vorticity in eddies indicates a deceleration (acceleration) of the jet coincident with northward (southward) quasi-permanent meanders. Eddy relative vorticity advection outside of the eastward jet core is balanced mostly by vertical stretching of the mean flow, which through baroclinic adjustment helps to drive the flanking recirculation gyres. The jet frame vorticity budget presents a well-defined picture of eddy activity, illustrating along-jet variations in eddy–mean flow interaction that may have implications for the jet’s dynamics and cross-frontal tracer fluxes.


Author(s):  
Takaya Uchida ◽  
Bruno Deremble ◽  
Stephane Popinet

Mesoscale eddies, the weather system of the oceans, although being on the scales of O(20-100km), have a disproportionate role in shaping the mean jets such as the separated Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean, which is on the scale of O(1000km) in the along-jet direction. With the increase in computational power, we are now able to partially resolve the eddies in basin-scale and global ocean simulations, a model resolution often referred to as mesoscale permitting. It is well known, however, that due to grid-scale numerical viscosity, mesoscale permitting simulations have less energetic eddies and consequently weaker eddy feedback onto the mean flow. In this study, we run a quasi-geostrophic model at mesoscale resolving resolution in a double gyre configuration and formulate a deterministic parametrization for the eddy rectification term of potential vorticity (PV), namely, the eddy PV flux divergence. We have moderate success in reproducing the spatial patterns and magnitude of eddy kinetic and potential energy diagnosed from the model. One novel point about our approach is that we account for non-local eddy feedbacks onto the mean flow by solving the eddy PV equation prognostically in addition to the mean flow. In return, we are able to parametrize the variability in total (mean+eddy) PV at each time step instead of solely the mean PV. A closure for the total PV is beneficial as we are able to account for both the mean state and extreme events.


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