Numerical Modeling Of The Ocean Circulation From Process Studies To Operational Forecasting The Mediterranean Example

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 knowledge of the characteristics of the fluids and their ability to transport substances and physical properties is relevant for us. However, the quantification of the movements of fluids is a complex task, and when considering natural flows, occurring in large scales (rivers, lakes, oceans), this complexity is evidenced. This book presents conclusions about different aspects of flows in natural water bodies, such as the evolution of plumes, the transport of sediments, air-water mixtures, among others. It contains thirteen chapters, organized in four sections: Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Rivers, Lakes and Reservoirs, Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Seas and Oceans, Tidal and Wave Dynamics: Estuaries and Bays, and Multiphase Phenomena: Air-Water Flows and Sediments. The chapters present conceptual arguments, experimental and numerical results, showing practical applications of the methods and tools of Hydrodynamics.

One of the most crucial but still very poorly understood topics of oceanographic science is the role of ocean processes in contributing to the dynamics of climate and global change. This book presents a series of high level lectures on the major categories of ocean/atmosphere processes. Three of these major issues are the focus of the lectures: (1) air--sea interaction processes; (2) water mass formation, dispersion and mixing; (3) general circulation, with specific emphasis on the thermohaline component. Global examples in the world ocean are provided and discussed in the lectures. In parallel, the Mediterranean Sea is a laboratory basin in providing analogues of the above global processes relevant to climate dynamics. They include the Mediterranean thermohaline circulation with its own `conveyor belt'; intermediate and deep water mass formation and transformations, dispersion and mixing. No other book in the field provides a review of fundamental lectures on these processes, coupled with global examples and their Mediterranean analogues.

The Advanced Study Courses in the field of Marine Science and Technology were part of the training programme developed from 1989 until 1999 within MAST, the Marine Science and Technology Programme of the European Union. They were related to the core topics of MAST Programme, marine systems research, extreme marine environments, regional Sea research, coastal systems research and engineering, and marine technology. The main objectives of these study courses were to further advance education in topics at the forefront of scien tific and technological development in Europe, and to improve the communication between students and experienced scientists on a European and international level. Over the years the Programme sponsored around 30 Advanced Study Courses. They took place in ten different member states of the European Union and their contribution in the formation of a European scientific community was significant. They also encouraged exchanges and contacts with several countries around the world such as United States, the third Mediterranean countries and others. The Course on Ocean Forecasting was one ofthe most successful with regard to its con tent, number of applications for participation and students satisfaction. When considering the need for the Advanced Study Course on Ocean Forecast ing, it is important to remember that the Oceans and Seas have always played a central role throughout the history of mankind. This is seen from the times of the ancient civilizations ofEgypt and Greece with the Phoenician traders, to the Viking voyages of exploration and discovery in medieval times.

This volume covers a wide range of topics and summarizes our present knowledge in ocean modeling, ocean observing systems, and data assimilation. The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) provides a framework for these efforts: a global system of observations, communications, modeling, and assimilation that will deliver regular, comprehensive information on the state of the oceans, engendering wide utility and availability for maximum benefit to the community.

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.

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.

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 document presents the final dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering for Miguel Solano at The University of Texas at Dallas. The main contribution of this dissertation is the implementation and validation of an operational ocean forecasting system based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). ROMS is a terrain-following, primitive equation ocean model which uses a split-explicit time step to advance the 3D equations with a long (slow) step and the 2D equations with a short (fast) step. Tide filtering techniques for the 2D mode are investigated to reduce the error at the open boundaries and to improve the accuracy of the forecast at the near-shore. The operational system was developed for the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CariCOOS), the observing arm of the Caribbean Regional Association encompassing the main island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and one of eleven regional Integrated Ocean Observing Systems from NOAA around the U.S. coasts. The operational system runs daily and automatically, downloading ocean variables from various regional products, pre-processing input files, setting up the model and producing a 3-day forecast of ocean currents, water levels, temperature and salinity fields. Boundary conditions are downloaded automatically from various regional products. The wind forcing is provided by NDFD and the tide forcing by OTPS. A particle tracking application has been developed to simulate particle dispersion and the trajectory of passive tracers using the output from the ROMS forecast. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the research background and objectives. Chapter 2 discusses important concepts in physical oceanography, with emphasis on coastal and near-shore process. Chapter 3 describes the methodology and a detailed description of the numerical model, while the specific configuration for this work is explained in chapter 4. The results are presented in chapter 5 and the conclusions in chapter 6.