An unrealistic high-salinity tongue simulated in the tropical Atlantic: another example for the need of more careful treatment of vertical discretizations in OGCMs.

Oschlies, Andreas (1999) An unrealistic high-salinity tongue simulated in the tropical Atlantic: another example for the need of more careful treatment of vertical discretizations in OGCMs. Ocean Modelling, 1 (2-3). pp. 101-109. DOI 10.1016/S1463-5003(99)00008-6.

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Abstract

An unrealistically high-salinity maximum is found to develop in a high-resolution model of the north and equatorial Atlantic below the shallow halocline in the Gulf of Guinea. The spurious water mass with salinities too high by as much as 1 psu is formed when the vertical advection is treated by the standard central-differencing advection scheme. The problem is considerably reduced either by increasing the vertical resolution of the numerical grid, or by switching to a higher-order upwind-weighted scheme for vertical advection. This note stresses the need for a careful consideration of vertical discretization even in typical high-resolution ocean general circulation models (OGCMs). Particular attention is needed for studying heat and salt budgets or transports of biogeochemical tracers.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Advection scheme; Numerical dispersion
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB2 Marine Biogeochemistry > FB2-BM Biogeochemical Modeling
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Elsevier
Date Deposited: 18 Feb 2008 17:24
Last Modified: 13 Feb 2017 11:56
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/764

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