Nicolas Wienders

CheapAML: A Simple, Atmospheric Boundary Layer Model for Use in Ocean-Only Model Calculations

AbstractA model of the marine atmospheric boundary layer is developed for ocean-only modeling in order to better represent air–sea exchanges. This model computes the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer temperature and humidity using a prescribed wind field. These quantities react to the underlying ocean through turbulent and radiative fluxes. With two examples, the authors illustrate that this formulation is accurate for regional and global modeling purposes and that turbulent fluxes are well reproduced in test cases when compared to reanalysis products. The model builds upon and is an extension of Seager et al.

Potential Vorticity Budgets in the North Atlantic Ocean

AbstractThis paper focuses on potential vorticity (PV) budgets in the North Atlantic with an emphasis on the wind-driven subtropical gyre. Since PV is the key dynamical variable of the wind-driven circulation, these budgets are important to understand. PV is a conservative quantity on isopycnals and can only enter or exit through the boundaries, like the lateral topography or the surface. The latter fluxes are diagnosed and tested against the evolution of the PV content in an isopycnal layer. The former are computed using the Bernoulli function. The essential result is found for all the tested isopycnals, and the dominant feature of PV is recirculation, with very little added at the surface or the boundaries. Density coordinates are well suited to understanding PV circulation. A novel technique for computing the Bernoulli function is proposed. The Bernoulli function is governed by a simple elliptic equation and the solutions demonstrate the dominant contribution of PV advection.

North Atlantic Barotropic Vorticity Balances in Numerical Models

AbstractNumerical simulations are conducted across model platforms and resolutions with a focus on the North Atlantic. Barotropic vorticity diagnostics confirm that the subtropical gyre is characterized by an inviscid balance primarily between the applied wind stress curl and bottom pressure torque. In an area-integrated budget over the Gulf Stream, the northward return flow is balanced by bottom pressure torque. These integrated budgets are shown to be consistent across model platforms and resolution, suggesting that these balances are robust. Two of the simulations, at 100- and 10-km resolutions, produce a more northerly separating Gulf Stream but obtain the correct integrated vorticity balances. In these simulations, viscous torque is nonnegligible on smaller scales, indicating that the separation is linked to the details of the local dynamics. These results are shown to be consistent with a scale analysis argument that suggests that the biharmonic viscous torque in particular is upsetting the inviscid...

Local sensitivities of the gulf stream separation

AbstractRobust and accurate Gulf Stream separation remains an unsolved problem in general circulation modeling whose resolution will positively impact the ocean and climate modeling communities. Oceanographic literature does not face a shortage of plausible hypotheses that attempt to explain the dynamics of the Gulf Stream separation, yet a single theory that the community agrees on is missing. In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of the deep western boundary current (DWBC), coastline curvature, and continental shelf steepening on the Gulf Stream separation within regional configurations of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model. Artificial modifications to the regional bathymetry are introduced to investigate the sensitivity of the separation to each of these factors. Metrics for subsurface separation detection confirm the direct link between flow separation and the surface expression of the Gulf Stream in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. It is shown that the Gulf Stream ...

Measurement Characteristics of Near-Surface Currents from Ultra-Thin Drifters, Drogued Drifters, and HF Radar

Concurrent measurements by satellite tracked drifters of different hull and drogue configurations and coastal high-frequency radar reveal substantial differences in estimates of the near-surface velocity. These measurements are important for understanding and predicting material transport on the ocean surface as well as the vertical structure of the near-surface currents. These near-surface current observations were obtained during a field experiment in the northern Gulf of Mexico intended to test a new ultra-thin drifter design. During the experiment, thirty small cylindrical drifters with 5 cm height, twenty-eight similar drifters with 10 cm hull height, and fourteen drifters with 91 cm tall drogues centered at 100 cm depth were deployed within the footprint of coastal High-Frequency (HF) radar. Comparison of collocated velocity measurements reveals systematic differences in surface velocity estimates obtained from the different measurement techniques, as well as provides information on properties of the drifter behavior and near-surface shear. Results show that the HF radar velocity estimates had magnitudes significantly lower than the 5 cm and 10 cm drifter velocity of approximately 45% and 35%, respectively. The HF radar velocity magnitudes were similar to the drogued drifter velocity. Analysis of wave directional spectra measurements reveals that surface Stokes drift accounts for much of the velocity difference between the drogued drifters and the thin surface drifters except during times of wave breaking.