Abstract
A new multiply nested primitive equation ocean model is presented. The model employs a two-way interactive nesting technique successfully applied for many years in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory‐NOAA hurricane prediction model. The formulation of the mesh nesting algorithm allows flexibility in deciding the number of meshes and the ratio of grid resolutions between adjacent meshes. Other advanced features include realistic coastline geometry and spatially variable grid spacing. The results of various idealized experiments indicate good performance of the nesting technique. The most important feature of the model is the ability to combine large-scale and regional-scale predictions. The model is tested as a general circulation model (GCM) in a 3-yr spinup experiment of the large-scale circulation in the tropical Pacific Ocean. It demonstrates skill comparable to that of other recently developed GCMs. The resulting large-scale fields are then used in the nested configuration as initial conditions for simulations of the ocean response to a westerly wind burst and a tropical cyclone. Significant improvements over a coarse, singlemesh model have been achieved in resolving finescale features of the wind-induced current and temperature fields. These results highlight the importance of model resolution for realistic simulations of mesoscale ocean variability.
Highlights
The evolution of the atmosphere and ocean is determined by many processes operating over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales
Oceanic synoptic–mesoscale variability is dynamically analogous to atmospheric synoptic-scale phenomena and can be thought of as the internal weather of the ocean
The model employs a two-way interactive nesting technique originally proposed by Kurihara et al (1979) and successfully applied for many years in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory– NOAA hurricane prediction model (Kurihara et al 1998)
Summary
The evolution of the atmosphere and ocean is determined by many processes operating over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales One such scale includes synoptic–mesoscale atmospheric and oceanic phenomena, and covers a broad spectrum of environmental events that have lifetimes ranging from several hours up to a month or so. Meteorological examples of such events are tropical cyclones, wind bursts, squall lines, and other ‘‘spells’’ of unusual weather. Oceanic synoptic–mesoscale variability is dynamically analogous to atmospheric synoptic-scale phenomena and can be thought of as the internal weather of the ocean It encompasses processes where energetic variability occurs on spatial scales characterized by the internal Rossby radius of deformation (Robinson 1983). The first internal Rossby radius in the ocean ranges from less than 10 km to several tens of kilometers and is two orders of magnitude or more smaller than the internal radius in the atmosphere
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