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    On eddy viscosity, energy cascades, and the horizontal resolution of gridded satellite altimeter products

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    jpo-d-11-0240%2E1.pdf (1.814Mb)
    Date
    2013-02
    Author
    Arbic, Brian K.  Concept link
    Polzin, Kurt L.  Concept link
    Scott, Robert B.  Concept link
    Richman, James G.  Concept link
    Shriver, Jay F.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5850
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-11-0240.1
    DOI
    10.1175/JPO-D-11-0240.1
    Keyword
     Eddies; Nonlinear dynamics; Ocean dynamics; Satellite observations; Ocean models 
    Abstract
    Motivated by the recent interest in ocean energetics, the widespread use of horizontal eddy viscosity in models, and the promise of high horizontal resolution data from the planned wide-swath satellite altimeter, this paper explores the impacts of horizontal eddy viscosity and horizontal grid resolution on geostrophic turbulence, with a particular focus on spectral kinetic energy fluxes Π(K) computed in the isotropic wavenumber (K) domain. The paper utilizes idealized two-layer quasigeostrophic (QG) models, realistic high-resolution ocean general circulation models, and present-generation gridded satellite altimeter data. Adding horizontal eddy viscosity to the QG model results in a forward cascade at smaller scales, in apparent agreement with results from present-generation altimetry. Eddy viscosity is taken to roughly represent coupling of mesoscale eddies to internal waves or to submesoscale eddies. Filtering the output of either the QG or realistic models before computing Π(K) also greatly increases the forward cascade. Such filtering mimics the smoothing inherent in the construction of present-generation gridded altimeter data. It is therefore difficult to say whether the forward cascades seen in present-generation altimeter data are due to real physics (represented here by eddy viscosity) or to insufficient horizontal resolution. The inverse cascade at larger scales remains in the models even after filtering, suggesting that its existence in the models and in altimeter data is robust. However, the magnitude of the inverse cascade is affected by filtering, suggesting that the wide-swath altimeter will allow a more accurate determination of the inverse cascade at larger scales as well as providing important constraints on smaller-scale dynamics.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. 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 43 (2013): 283–300, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-11-0240.1.
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    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 283–300
     

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