Mesoscale Variability in an Eddy-Resolving Global POP Simulation

• Main Authors: Julie Mcclean, Mathew Maltrud, Detelina Ivanova
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Hudson; Hudson Bay; North Pole
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.601.144; http://www.jamstec.go.jp/esc/research/AtmOcn/hires2005/abstract/7-3_mcclean.pdf

In the past decade, supercomputing capabilities have increased to the point whereby numerical global ocean models can be run at sufficiently high vertical and horizontal resolution to be eddy-resolving (horizontal resolutions of 5-10 km and 40-50 levels) rather than eddy-permitting (35-40 km and 20-30 levels). This advance has provided the means of simulating both the large and mesoscale components of the circulation. A twenty-five year (1979-2003) 0.1-degree, 40-level global POP simulation forced with realistic surface fluxes is complete. It affords us the opportunity to study the ocean circulation, particularly mesoscale variability and processes as well as their interactions with the larger scales, in parts of the ocean where insufficient observations exist for such purposes. The POP model is configured on a displaced pole grid whereby the North Pole is rotated into Hudson Bay to avoid a polar singularity. The grid spacing is about 11 km at the equator decreasing to about 3 km in the Arctic Ocean. At mid-latitudes this spacing is 5-7 km. A blended bathymetry was created from Smith and Sandwell