Modeling Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Interaction in the Coastal Ocean Using ROMS and COAMPS

Abstract

Circulation models used for ocean forecasting in coastal regions parameterize vertical mixing using a variety of turbulence closure hypotheses. The choice of closure scheme can lead to significant differences in simulated mesoscale flows. The long-term goal of this project is to critically compare observed and modeled vertical turbulent mixing processes and the exchanges of momentum and heat across the air-sea interface and evaluate which schemes perform better, in which coastal ocean settings, and for what reasons. This comparison is being undertaken by hind-casting the circulation in the CBLAST-Low observational region during the summers of 2002 and 2003. The analysis complements CBLAST observational studies by providing a quantitative assessment of the relative contributions of horizontal stirring and advection to the detailed, yet principally 1-dimensional, vertical heat budget analyses of air-sea flux and vertical mixing observations from the Martha s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) during CBLAST-Low.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2007
Accession Number
ADA573184

Entities

People

  • John Wilkin

Organizations

  • Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Dynamics
  • Heat Flux
  • High Resolution
  • Layers
  • Mixing
  • Models
  • New Brunswick
  • New Jersey
  • Observation
  • Oceans
  • Sea Surface Temperature
  • Surface Temperature
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Turbulent Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers