Challenges and Prospects in Ocean Circulation Models

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Fox-Kemper, Baylor, Adcroft, Alistair, Böning, Claus, Chassignet, Eric, Curchitser, Enrique, Danabasoglu, Gokhan, Eden, Carsten, England, Matthew, Gerdes, Rüdiger, Greatbatch, Richard, Griffies, Stephen, Hallberg, Robert, Hanert, Emmanuel, Heimbach, Patrick, Hewitt, Helene, Hill, Christopher, Komuro, Yoshiki, Legg, Sonya, Le Sommer, Julien, Masina, Simona, Marsland, Simon, Penny, Stephen, Qiao, Fangli, Ringler, Todd, Treguier, Anne Marie, Tsujino, Hiroyuki, Uotila, Petteri, Yeager, Stephen
• Other Authors: Brown University, Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR), Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), Florida State University Tallahassee (FSU), Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New Brunswick (RU), Rutgers University System (Rutgers)-Rutgers University System (Rutgers), National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), Coventry University (UK), Coventry University, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Earth and Life Institute Louvain-La-Neuve (ELI), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Catania (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - Brest (IFREMER Centre de Bretagne), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Meteorological Research Institute Tsukuba (MRI), Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: ocean processes; ocean circulation; model; parameterization; climate; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Southern Ocean; Ice Shelves; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02379810; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02379810/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02379810/file/foxkemper-frontiers-06-00065.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00065

International audience We revisit the challenges and prospects for ocean circulation models following Griffies et al. (2010). Over the past decade, ocean circulation models evolved through improved understanding, numerics, spatial discretization, grid configurations, parameterizations, data assimilation, environmental monitoring, and process-level observations and modeling. Important large scale applications over the last decade are simulations of the Southern Ocean, the Meridional Overturning Circulation and its variability, and regional sea level change. Submesoscale variability is now routinely resolved in process models and permitted in a few global models, and submesoscale effects are parameterized in most global models. The scales where nonhydrostatic effects become important are beginning to be resolved in regional and process models. Coupling to sea ice, ice shelves, and high-resolution atmospheric models has stimulated new ideas and driven improvements in numerics. Observations have provided insight into turbulence and mixing around the globe and its consequences are assessed through perturbed physics models. Relatedly, parameterizations of the mixing and overturning processes in boundary layers and the ocean interior have improved. New diagnostics being used for evaluating models Fox-Kemper et al. Ocean Circulation Models alongside present and novel observations are briefly referenced. The overall goal is summarizing new developments in ocean modeling, including: how new and existing observations can be used, what modeling challenges remain, and how simulations can be used to support observations.