An application of the capacitance matrix method to accommodate masked land areas and island circulations in a primitive equation ocean model

Abstract

AbstractThe capacitance matrix method has been implemented in a primitive equation ocean model to accommodate islands and portions of irregular coastal boundaries that cannot be treated adequately by boundary‐fitted orthogonal curvilinear co‐ordinates. The algorithm preserves the ability to solve the streamfunction equation using fast and accurate elliptic solvers that require a rectangular computational domain. By superposition of a set of island Green functions, the solution is adjusted to ensure continuity of pressure around each island. The implementation is tested by comparison with an analytic solution for wind‐driven flow in a closed basin similar to the southwest Pacific Ocean.