A downscaling method for simulating deep current interactions with topography - Application to the Sigsbee Escarpment

作者：Morey Steven L^*; Dukhovskoy Dmitry S

来源：Ocean Modelling, 2013, 69: 50-63.

DOI：10.1016/j.ocemod.2013.05.008

• Ocean modeling
• Model nesting
• Topographic flows
• USA
• Gulf of Mexico
• Sigsbee Escarpment

A nesting approach is applied to dynamically downscale the deep circulation from a basin-scale model in regions of complicated topography where deep dynamics may be poorly resolved. The method is applied to nest a high vertical and horizontal resolution Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) domain covering the north-central Gulf of Mexico within a HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) Gulf of Mexico domain. The northwestern Gulf of Mexico has a very steep topographic feature, the Sigsbee Escarpment, over which localized bottom-intensified currents with short cross-isobath length scales have been observed in water depths between 1500 m and 3000 m. It has been hypothesized that these intense currents are related to the presence of the Loop Current or Loop Current Eddies, strong upper ocean mesoscale circulation features in the Gulf. A modeling system is required that can resolve the short length scales of topography and the currents, resolve the vertical trapping of the currents, and realistically simulate the mesoscale upper and deep ocean circulation features. The multi-model nesting approach described here simulates these intense currents with characteristics very similar to observations, and demonstrates the connectivity to the larger scale ocean circulation features.

• 出版日期2013-9