An Eddy-Resolving Labrador Sea Modeling Studied by a Coupled Sea Ice-Ocean Circulation Model Project Representative

• Main Authors: Hiroyasu Hasumi, Hideaki Kitauchi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Labrador Sea; coupled sea ice-ocean circulation model; mesoscale eddies; intermediate water formation; Greenland; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.165.9607; http://www.jamstec.go.jp/esc/publication/annual/annual2006/pdf/3project/chapter1/057hasumi.pdf

Qualitative comparison between observed and simulated fields over the Labrador Sea is performed. The model simulates the observed mean horizontal circulations of the surface cyclonic subpolar gyre and the mid-depth ( ~ 700 m) cyclonic recirculations. The distribution of the eddy kinetic energy shows good agreement with the observed evidence over the surface in annual average. The model captures the observed typical vortical structures of a pair of vortices and a cluster of vortices offshore West Greenland. For the vertical motion, on the other hand, winter convection reaches about 1000 ~ 1500 m consistent with the observed mixed-layer depth over the Labrador Sea. The model captures the wintertime convection columns.