Modeling Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Interaction in the Coastal Ocean Using ROMS and COAMPS

Abstract

Abstract : Circulation models used for ocean forecasting in coastal regions parameterize vertical mixing using a variety of turbulence closure hypotheses. The choice of closure scheme can lead to significant differences in simulated mesoscale flows. The long-term goal of this project is to critically compare observed and modeled vertical turbulent mixing processes and the exchanges of momentum and heat across the air-sea interface and evaluate which schemes perform better, in which coastal ocean settings, and for what reasons. This comparison is being undertaken by hind-casting the circulation in the CBLAST-Low observational region during the summers of 2002 and 2003. The analysis complements CBLAST observational studies by providing a quantitative assessment of the relative contributions of horizontal stirring and advection to the detailed, yet principally 1-dimensional, vertical heat budget analyses of air-sea flux and vertical mixing observations from the Martha s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) during CBLAST-Low.