• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Ocean eddy dynamics in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    jpo3041%2E1.pdf (3.835Mb)
    Date
    2007-05
    Author
    Berloff, Pavel S.  Concept link
    Dewar, William K.  Concept link
    Kravtsov, Sergey K.  Concept link
    McWilliams, James C.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4145
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo3041.1
    DOI
    10.1175/jpo3041.1
    Keyword
     Ocean dynamics; Ocean models; Eddies; Jets; Coupled models 
    Abstract
    The role of mesoscale oceanic eddies is analyzed in a quasigeostrophic coupled ocean–atmosphere model operating at a large Reynolds number. The model dynamics are characterized by decadal variability that involves nonlinear adjustment of the ocean to coherent north–south shifts of the atmosphere. The oceanic eddy effects are diagnosed by the dynamical decomposition method adapted for nonstationary external forcing. The main effects of the eddies are an enhancement of the oceanic eastward jet separating the subpolar and subtropical gyres and a weakening of the gyres. The flow-enhancing effect is due to nonlinear rectification driven by fluctuations of the eddy forcing. This is a nonlocal process involving generation of the eddies by the flow instabilities in the western boundary current and the upstream part of the eastward jet. The eddies are advected by the mean current to the east, where they backscatter into the rectified enhancement of the eastward jet. The gyre-weakening effect, which is due to the time-mean buoyancy component of the eddy forcing, is a result of the baroclinic instability of the westward return currents. The diagnosed eddy forcing is parameterized in a non-eddy-resolving ocean model, as a nonstationary random process, in which the corresponding parameters are derived from the control coupled simulation. The key parameter of the random process—its variance—is related to the large-scale flow baroclinicity index. It is shown that the coupled model with the non-eddy-resolving ocean component and the parameterized eddies correctly simulates climatology and low-frequency variability of the control eddy-resolving coupled solution.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 1103-1121, doi:10.1175/jpo3041.1.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 1103-1121
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Dynamical origin of low-frequency variability in a highly nonlinear midlatitude coupled model 

      Kravtsov, Sergey K.; Berloff, Pavel S.; Dewar, William K.; Ghil, M.; McWilliams, James C. (American Meteorological Society, 2006-12-15)
      A novel mechanism of decadal midlatitude coupled variability, which crucially depends on the nonlinear dynamics of both the atmosphere and the ocean, is presented. The coupled model studied involves quasigeostrophic ...
    • Thumbnail

      Ocean–atmosphere dynamics during Hurricane Ida and Nor’Ida : an application of the coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system 

      Olabarrieta, Maitane; Warner, John C.; Armstrong, Brandy; Zambon, Joseph B.; He, Ruoying (Elsevier B.V., 2011-12-30)
      The coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system was used to investigate atmosphere–ocean–wave interactions in November 2009 during Hurricane Ida and its subsequent evolution to Nor’Ida, which ...
    • Thumbnail

      A highly nonlinear coupled mode of decadal variability in a mid-latitude ocean–atmosphere model 

      Kravtsov, Sergey K.; Dewar, William K.; Berloff, Pavel S.; McWilliams, James C.; Ghil, M. (2006-08-10)
      This study examines mid-latitude climate variability in a model that couples turbulent oceanic and atmospheric flows through an active oceanic mixed layer. Intrinsic ocean dynamics of the inertial recirculation regions ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo