Influence of numerical schemes on current-topography interactions in 1/4° global ocean simulations

• Main Authors: Penduff, Thierry, Le Sommer, Julien, Barnier, Bernard, Tréguier, Anne-Marie, Molines, Jean-Marc, Madec, Gurvan
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels Grenoble (LEGI), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [PHYS.MECA.MEFL]Physics [physics]/Mechanics [physics]/Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph]; [SPI.MECA.MEFL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph]; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Bergen; Norway; Zapiola; north atlantic current; North Atlantic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00267025; https://doi.org/10.5194/osd-4-491-2007

International audience The combined use of partial steps and of an energy-enstrophy conserving momentum advection scheme was shown by Barnier et al. (2006) to yield substantial improvements in the surface solution of the DRAKKAR 4 global sea-ice/ocean model. The present study extends this investigation below the surface with a special focus on the Atlantic and reveals many improvements there as well: e.g. more realistic path, structure and transports of major currents (Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Current, Confluence region, Zapiola anticyclone), behavior of shedded rings, narrower subsurface boundary currents, stronger mean and eddy flows (MKE and EKE) at depth, beneficial enhancement of cyclonic (anticyclonic) flows around topographic depressions (mountains). Interestingly, adding a no-slip boundary condition to this improved model setup cancels most of these improvements, bringing back the biases diagnosed without the improved momentum advection scheme and partial steps (these biases are typical of other models at comparable or higher resolutions). This shows that current-topography interactions and full-depth eddy-admitting model solutions can be seriously deteriorated by near-bottom sidewall friction, either explicit or inherent to inadequate numerical schemes.