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Numerical models of the ocean circulation
Author(s) -
Pond Stephen,
Bryan Kirk
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg014i002p00243
Subject(s) - baroclinity , ocean current , geology , geostrophic wind , thermal wind , climatology , eddy , ocean surface topography , mesoscale meteorology , oceanic basin , turbulence , circulation (fluid dynamics) , stratification (seeds) , meteorology , geophysics , wind shear , oceanography , mechanics , structural basin , physics , wind speed , seed dormancy , paleontology , germination , botany , dormancy , biology
Numerical models of the large‐scale circulation of the oceans have developed into a useful tool for the interpretation of oceanographic data and the planning of new observational programs. Idealized numerical models with simplified geometry and physics have extended the analytic theory of the wind‐driven ocean circulation into the range in which inertial effects determine the solution. Recent numerical work has shown how stratification and baroclinic instability further modify a wind‐driven ocean circulation. Other results obtained by simplified numerical models include important predictions about the spectral properties of geostrophic turbulence in the ocean. Another class of numerical models has been developed which attempts to model the geometry and physics of the ocean circulation in a more detailed way, allowing a quantitative comparison with observations. Interesting results have been obtained for the Indian Ocean which simulate the seasonal variations of the Somali Current. Other Soviet and U.S. model studies using the observed density field as input show that pressure torques acting on bottom topography can be as large as the torques exerted by the wind acting at the surface. As yet, detailed simulations of the ocean circulation in a major ocean basin which include the effect of mesoscale eddies have not been undertaken.