A layered model approach for simulating high river discharge events from land to the ocean

Abstract

This study presents a new approach for simulating surface runoff, river flow, and oceanic flow. Hydrological-ocean coupled models often stitch the two models at the river mouth because they typically differ in formulation, dynamically and dimensionally. An isopycnal-layered model is shown to naturally couple hydrological and oceanic processes seamlessly with the use of a single dynamical core. Numerical experiments show the high discharge event of the Abukuma River in Japan during Typhoon Roke with realistic river flows and freshwater plumes in the ocean. The time series of the river discharge rates also match well with observations from upstream to downstream.