A multi-resolution approach to global ocean modeling

Abstract

A new global ocean model (MPAS-Ocean) capable of using enhanced resolution in selected regions of the ocean domain is described and evaluated. Three simulations using different grids are presented. The first grid is a uniform high-resolution (15km) mesh; the second grid has similarly high resolution (15km) in the North Atlantic (NA), but coarse resolution elsewhere; the third grid is a variable resolution grid like the second but with higher resolution (7.5km) in the NA. Simulation results are compared to observed sea-surface height (SSH), SSH variance and selected current transports. In general, the simulations produce subtropical and subpolar gyres with peak SSH amplitudes too strong by between 0.25 and 0.40m. The mesoscale eddy activity within the NA is, in general, well simulated in both structure and amplitude. The uniform high-resolution simulation produces reasonable representations of mesoscale activity throughout the global ocean. Simulations using the second variable-resolution grid are essentially identical to the uniform case within the NA region. The third case with higher NA resolution produces a simulation that agrees somewhat better in the NA with observed SSH, SSH variance and transports than the two 15km simulations. The actual throughput, including I/O, for the x1-15km simulation is the same as the structured grid Parallel Ocean Program ocean model in its standard high-resolution 0.1° configuration. Our overall conclusion is that this ocean model is a viable candidate for multi-resolution simulations of the global ocean system on climate-change time scales.