Numerical Simulation of the Gulf Stream and Mid-Ocean Eddies

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Abstract
The circulation of the western North Atlantic is simulated with a primitive equation model that has 5 levels and a horizontal grid size of 37 km. The idealized model domain is a rectangular basin, 3000 km long, 2000 km wide and 4 km deep, which is oriented so that the long axis of the basin is parallel to the east coast of the United States. The nearshore side of the basin has a simple continental shelf and slope, whereas the other sides are bounded by vertical wills. The model ocean is driven by a 2½ gyre pattern of steady zonal wind stress and by a Newtonian-type surface heating. After initialization from a 15-year spin-up with a coarser grid, two experiments are carried out, each of several years duration: the first uses a Laplacian formulation for the subgrid-scale lateral diffusions of heat and momentum, the second uses a highly scale-selective biharmonic formulation for these diffusions. Bottom friction is present in each case. In both experiments, a western boundary current forms which sep... Abstract The circulation of the western North Atlantic is simulated with a primitive equation model that has 5 levels and a horizontal grid size of 37 km. The idealized model domain is a rectangular basin, 3000 km long, 2000 km wide and 4 km deep, which is oriented so that the long axis of the basin is parallel to the east coast of the United States. The nearshore side of the basin has a simple continental shelf and slope, whereas the other sides are bounded by vertical wills. The model ocean is driven by a 2½ gyre pattern of steady zonal wind stress and by a Newtonian-type surface heating. After initialization from a 15-year spin-up with a coarser grid, two experiments are carried out, each of several years duration: the first uses a Laplacian formulation for the subgrid-scale lateral diffusions of heat and momentum, the second uses a highly scale-selective biharmonic formulation for these diffusions. Bottom friction is present in each case. In both experiments, a western boundary current forms which sep...

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