A Truncated Model of the Long-Period Gulf-Stream Fluctuations and Their Feedback to the Atmosphere,
Abstract
A simple model is given of a barotropic atmosphere overlying a piece of land and a piece of 1-1/2 layer ocean, that is, a two-layer ocean having the lower layer inert. This model is applied to the extratropical region where both the atmosphere and the ocean are assumed quasi-geostrophic. The barotropic atmosphere is externally forced by some vorticity sources representing the solar radiation field. The upper ocean is driven by a wind stress which is linearly proportional to the wind speed. On a longer time scale, the ocean feeds its energy to the atmosphere through a vorticity source representing a heat flux induced by the ocean circulation gyre, forcing the atmosphere to vary on an interannual time scale. The model is highly truncated by retaining only the lowest few Fourier components (Lorentz, 1963). Such a severe truncation, although somewhat heuristic, drastically cuts down computer costs so that an extensive parametric study can be made. Details about the model formulation and the numerical results can be found in Chao, S.-Y., 1982: 'An Extratropical Model of Ocean-Atmosphere Coupling'. (Submitted to J. Atmos. Sci.). In this short paper, a few important conclusions are offered.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADP001042
Entities
People
- Shenn-yu Chao