On the Eddy Isopycnal Thickness Diffusivity of the Gent-McVVilliams Subgrid Mixing Parameterization
Output of an eddy-resolving model of the North Atlantic Ocean is used to diagnose the eddy thickness diffusivity coefficient, K, defined by Gent and McWilliams (1990) in their quasi-adiabatic parameterization for transports by mesoscale eddies. The results suggest that K has large spatial and tempor...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1999
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.511.942 http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/17599/1/99-1025.pdf |
| Summary: | Output of an eddy-resolving model of the North Atlantic Ocean is used to diagnose the eddy thickness diffusivity coefficient, K, defined by Gent and McWilliams (1990) in their quasi-adiabatic parameterization for transports by mesoscale eddies. The results suggest that K has large spatial and temporal variations, with negative values about half of the time. The order of magnitude of K shows a wide range in the western North Atlantic, varying from 10rn2s " to 107rn2s". Also, the value of K is considerably affected by the time scale used to define the high-frequency and low-frequency components. The results suggest that K should be a diagnosed variable that reflects the strength of eddy mixing during a model integration. 2 1 |
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