Numerical Modeling Of Ocean Circulation

The modelling of ocean circulation is important not only for its own sake, but also in terms of the prediction of weather patterns and the effects of climate change. This 2007 book introduces the basic computational techniques necessary for all models of the ocean and atmosphere, and the conditions they must satisfy. It describes the workings of ocean models, the problems that must be solved in their construction, and how to evaluate computational results. Major emphasis is placed on examining ocean models critically, and determining what they do well and what they do poorly. Numerical analysis is introduced as needed, and exercises are included to illustrate major points. Developed from notes for a course taught in physical oceanography at the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, this book is ideal for graduate students of oceanography, geophysics, climatology and atmospheric science, and researchers in oceanography and atmospheric science.

This 2007 book describes ocean models for graduate students and researchers in oceanography, geophysics, climatology and atmospheric science.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the models and methods employed in the rapidly advancing field of numerical ocean circulation modeling. For those new to the field, concise reviews of the equations of oceanic motion, sub-grid-scale parameterization, and numerical approximation techniques are presented and four specific numerical models, chosen to span the range of current practice, are described in detail. For more advanced users, a suite of model test problems is developed to illustrate the differences among models, and to serve as a first stage in the quantitative evaluation of future algorithms. The extensive list of references makes this book a valuable text for both graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the marine sciences and in related fields such as meteorology, and climate and coupled biogeochemical modeling.

While there are several excellent books dealing with numerical analysis and analytical theory, one has to practically sift through hundreds of references. This monograph is an attempt to partly rectify this situation. It aims to introduce the application of finite-difference methods to ocean dynamics as well as review other complex methods. Systematically presented, the monograph first gives a detailed account of the basics and then go on to discuss the various applications. Recognising the impossibility of covering the entire field of ocean dynamics, the writers have chosen to focus on transport equations (diffusion and advection), shallow water phenomena ? tides, storm surges and tsunamis, three-dimensional time dependent oceanic motion, natural oscillations, and steady state phenomena. The many aspects covered by this book makes it an indispensable handbook and reference source to both professionals and students of this field.

In this wide-ranging and comprehensive review of the historical development and current status of ocean circulation models, the analysis extends from simple analytical approaches to the latest high-resolution numerical models with data assimilation. The authors, both of whom are pioneer scientists in ocean and shelf sea modelling, look back at the evolution of Western and Eastern modelling methodologies during the second half of the last century. They also present the very latest information on ocean climate modelling and offer examples for a number of oceans and shelf seas. The book includes a critical analysis of literature on ocean climate variability modelling, as well as assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the best-known modelling techniques. It also anticipates future developments in the field, focusing on models based on a synthesis of numerical simulation and field observation, and on nonlinear thermodynamic model data synthesis.

The realism of large scale numerical ocean models has improved dra matically in recent years, in part because modern computers permit a more faithful representation of the differential equations by their algebraic analogs. Equally significant, if not more so, has been the improved under standing of physical processes on space and time scales smaller than those that can be represented in such models. Today, some of the most challeng ing issues remaining in ocean modeling are associated with parameterizing the effects of these high-frequency, small-space scale processes. Accurate parameterizations are especially needed in long term integrations of coarse resolution ocean models that are designed to understand the ocean vari ability within the climate system on seasonal to decadal time scales. Traditionally, parameterizations of subgrid-scale, high-frequency mo tions in ocean modeling have been based on simple formulations, such as the Reynolds decomposition with constant diffusivity values. Until recently, modelers were concerned with first order issues such as a correct represen tation of the basic features of the ocean circulation. As the numerical simu lations become better and less dependent on the discretization choices, the focus is turning to the physics of the needed parameterizations and their numerical implementation. At the present time, the success of any large scale numerical simulation is directly dependent upon the choices that are made for the parameterization of various subgrid processes.

Oceans play a pivotal role in our weather and climate. Ocean-borne commerce is vital to our increasingly close-knit global community. Yet we do not fully understand the intricate details of how they function, how they interact with the atmosphere, and what the limits are to their biological productivity and their tolerance to wastes. While satellites are helping us to fill in the gaps, numerical ocean models are playing an important role in increasing our ability to comprehend oceanic processes, monitor the current state of the oceans, and to a limited extent, even predict their future state.Numerical Models of Oceans and Oceanic Processes is a survey of the current state of knowledge in this field. It brings together a discussion of salient oceanic dynamics and processes, numerical solution methods, and ocean models to provide a comprehensive treatment of the topic. Starting with elementary concepts in ocean dynamics, it deals with equatorial, mid-latitude, high latitude, and coastal dynamics from the perspective of a modeler. A comprehensive and up-to-date chapter on tides is also included. This is followed by a discussion of different kinds of numerical ocean models and the pre- and post-processing requirements and techniques. Air-sea and ice-ocean coupled models are described, as well as data assimilation and nowcast/forecasts. Comprehensive appendices on wavelet transforms and empirical orthogonal functions are also included.This comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the field should be of interest to oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, and climatologists. While some prior knowledge of oceans and numerical modeling is helpful, the book includes an overview of enough elementary material so that along with its companion volume, Small Scale Processes in Geophysical Flows, it should be useful to both students new to the field and practicing professionals. * Comprehensive and up-to-date review* Useful for a two-semester (or one-semester on selected topics) graduate level course* Valuable reference on the topic* Essential for a better understanding of weather and climate

The problems of ocean dynamics present more and more com plex tasks for investigators, based on the continuously sophisti cation of theoretical models, which are applied with the help of universal and efficient algorithms of numerical mathematics. The present level of our knowledge in the field of mathemat ical physics and numerical mathematics allows one to give rather complete theoretical analysis of basic statements of problems as well as numerical algorithms. Our task is to perform such analy sis and also to analyze the results of calculations in order to improve our knowledge of the mechanism of large-scale hy drological processes occurring in the World Ocean. The new level of numerical mathematics has essentially influenced , the formation of new solution methods of ocean dynamics prob lems, among which an important one is the splitting method, which has been already widely practised in various fields of science and engineering. A number of monographs by N. N. Yanenko, A. A. Samarsky, G.!. Marchuk (Rozhdestvensky and Yanenko 1968; Samarsky and Andreyev 1976; Marchuk 1970, 1980b) and others are devoted to the description of this methods. But the methods of the splitting theory require extensive creative work for their application to concrete problems, which are peculiar, as a rule, in problem formulation. The success of the application of these methods is related to the deep understanding of the essence of the described processes. In the last decades fundamental works of Arakawa, K.