Localized General Vertical Coordinates for Quasi‐Eulerian Ocean Models: The Nordic Overflows Test‐Case

• Published in: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
• Main Authors: Bruciaferri, Diego, Guiavarc'H, Catherine, Hewitt, Helene, T, Harle, James, Almansi, Mattia, Mathiot, Pierre, Colombo, Pedro
• Other Authors: National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Diego Bruciaferri; [SHS.ENVIR]Humanities and Social Sciences/Environmental studies; Greenland; Greenland-Scotland Ridge; Nordic Seas
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04693964; https://hal.science/hal-04693964/document; https://hal.science/hal-04693964/file/J%20Adv%20Model%20Earth%20Syst%20-%202024%20-%20Bruciaferri%20-%20Localized%20General%20Vertical%20Coordinates%20for%20Quasi%25E2%2580%2590Eulerian%20Ocean%20Models%20%20The.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2023ms003893

International audience A generalized methodology to deploy different types of vertical coordinate system in arbitrarily defined time-invariant local areas of quasi-Eulerian numerical ocean models is presented. After detailing its characteristics, we show how the general localization method can be used to improve the representation of the Nordic Seas overflows in the UK Met Office NEMO-based eddy-permitting global ocean configuration. Three z*-levels with partial steps configurations localizing different types of hybrid geopotential/terrain-following vertical coordinates in the proximity of the Greenland-Scotland ridge are implemented and compared against a control configuration. Experiments include a series of idealized and realistic numerical simulations where the skill of the models in computing pressure forces, reducing spurious diapycnal mixing and reproducing observed properties of the Nordic Seas overflows are assessed. Numerical results prove that the localization approach proposed here can be successfully used to embed terrain-following levels in a global geopotential levels-based configuration, provided that the localized vertical coordinate chosen is flexible enough to allow a smooth transition between the two. In addition, our experiments show that deploying localized terrain-following levels via the multi-envelope method allows the crucial reduction of spurious cross-isopycnal mixing when modeling bottom intensified buoyancy driven currents, significantly improving the realism of the Nordic Seas overflows simulations in comparison to the other configurations. Important hydrographic biases are found to similarly affect all the realistic experiments and a discussion on how their interaction with the type of localized vertical coordinate affects the realism of the simulated overflows is provided. Plain Language Summary Numerical ocean models are arguably one of the most advanced tools the scientific community can use to study the dynamics of the world's oceans. However, the ability of an ocean model ...