МЕЛКОМАСШТАБНОЕ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ ДИНАМИКИ ВОД НА ШЕЛЬФЕ И КОНТИНЕНТАЛЬНОМ СКЛОНЕ В АНТАРКТИКЕ

Abstract

The use of the Fluidity-ICOM model in a full non-hydrostatic formulation makes it possible to correctly investigate fine-scale water dynamics and water transformations on the Antarctic shelf and continental slope. A possibility of solving problems with high spatial resolution in models is provided by the use of the three-dimensional adaptive unstructured mesh with automatic refinement to given scales. The modernization of the graphical model output made it possible to reliably visualize the detailed development of simulated hydrophysical processes, to obtain numerical estimates of parameters of these processes, and to verify them against unique field observation data. An original three-dimensional numerical experiment was held in the area of polynya with an open water surface on the shelf. In this case, the real salt (buoyancy) flux is specified, which is caused by the in-water ice formation in the polynya and is obtained from the actual atmospheric forcing. As a result, the convective circulation was correctly simulated as a process of formation of dense water on the shelf, which then flows down the shelf and continental slope in the form of discrete density currents. Similarity of the model geometric, dynamic, and hydrophysical characteristics of cascading with the typical ones obtained from the analysis of field observations was found.