Development and Evaluation of a Global Version of the Miami Isopycnic-Coordinate Ocean Model. Final report

• Main Authors: Bleck, Rainer, Rooth, Claes G.H., Okeefe, Sawdey
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Univ. of Miami, FL (United States) 1997
• Subjects: 16 Tidal And Wave Power; Compressibility; Isopyncnic Coordinates; Global Ocean Modeling; Sensitivity; Rivers; Resolution; Transport Global Ocean Modeling; Climate Dynamics; Runoff; Convection; Evaluation; Climate Models; Precipitation; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/760706; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc724136/

The objective of this project was to test the ability of the Miami Isopycnic-Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM) to simulate the global ocean circulation, setting the stage for the model's incorporation into coupled global climate models. An existing basin-scale model will be expanded to global domain; suitable atmospheric forcing fields, including precipitation and river runoff, will be selected; the modeling of ayssal flow will be improved by incorporating compressibility and particularly thermobaric effects; a sea-ice model will be added; parameterization options will be explored for subgrid-scale deep convection; parallel coarse- and fine-mesh simulations will be carried out to investigate the impact of grid resolution; the sensitivity of the model's solution to magnitude of vertical (diapycnal) exchange coefficient will be studied; and long-term trends in meridional heat transport and water-mass properties in model solutions will be documented and interpreted.