A Parallel Implementation of a Spectral Element Ocean Model for Simulating Low-Latitude Circulation System

Abstract

This chapter describes the implementation and results of a spectral element, high resolution, 3D ocean model that, in particular, is capable of resolving both the horizontal and the vertical structures of the low-latitude western boundary processes. The current version of the model is driven solely by wind stress and ignores the dynamical effects of stratification. This model is designed to study the effect of wind in the formation and variation of important meso-to-small scale equatorial ocean phenomenon, such as eddies, low-latitude western boundary currents, and vertically alternating equatorial zonal jets. The high efficiency of this model is based on an optimized coupling between the numerical algorithm and the computer architecture (algorithm-architecture). Performance is further enhanced by the spectral element tensor-product factorization and spectral element parallelism. The high computation efficiency of the spectral element primitive equation model allows the model to capture the meso-small scale oceanic processes much more efficiently than low-order numerical models. This is the first time that the north and south intermediate countercurrents and the south equatorial intermediate current have been identified by a numerical ocean model.