Parametrizing ocean eddies

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Project objective

Research objectives and contentThe ocean plays a key role in the climate of Europe on seasonal to decadel timescale. The distribution of sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic affects such things as the track and strength of storms. SST is determined by the circulation of the ocean which in turn is affected by the action of mesoscale eddies transporting significant amounts of heat. Yet explicitly modelling them in ocean general circulation models (GCM) used in climate studies is prohibitively expensive in terms of computing resources. There is a need to parametrize the effects of eddies in ocean GCMs. The main objective of the project will be to test the sensitivity of the circulation in a model of the North Atlantic to the specification of eddy fluxes with particular focus on SST. Eddy parametrization schemes will be implemented in a coarse 1 degree ocean model. The dependency of the circulation and SST on the form of the parametrization scheme will be studied. The results will be tested against those from an high resolution eddy resolving model of the North Atlantic (1/12 degree). The UK UGAMP will run an atmospheric model with the SST fields produced by the ocean model with a view to studying the sensitivity of the atmosphere to changes in SST brought about by changes to the ocean physics. The ultimate goal is to improve our understanding of the coupled ocean/atmosphere system and its effect on European climate. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact) I expect that the training experience will provide me with higher-level skills and will lead me to approach both theoretical and applicative oceanographic issues, with particular emphasis on climatic aspects. Links with industry / industrial relevance (22)

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Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON · SOUTHAMPTONCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

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