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Abstract Mesoscale eddies modulate the stratification, mixing, tracer transport, and dissipation pathways of oceanic flows over a wide range of spatiotemporal scales. The parameterization of buoyancy and momentum fluxes associated with mesoscale eddies thus presents an evolving challenge for ocean modelers, particularly as modern climate models approach eddy‐permitting resolutions. Here we present a parameterization targeting such resolutions through the use of a subgrid mesoscale eddy kinetic energy budget (MEKE) framework. Our study presents two novel insights: (a) both the potential and kinetic energy effects of eddies may be parameterized via a kinetic energy backscatter, with no Gent‐McWilliams along‐isopycnal transport; (b) a dominant factor in ensuring a physically‐accurate backscatter is the vertical structure of the parameterized momentum fluxes. We present simulations of 1/2° and 1/4° resolution idealized models with backscatter applied to the equivalent barotropic mode. Remarkably, the global kinetic and potential energies, isopycnal structure, and vertical energy partitioning show significantly improved agreement with a 1/32° reference solution. Our work provides guidance on how to parameterize mesoscale eddy effects in the challenging eddy‐permitting regime.
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A Stable Implementation of a Data‐Driven Scale‐Aware Mesoscale Parameterization
Ocean mesoscale eddies are often poorly represented in climate models, and therefore, their effects on the large scale circulation must be parameterized. Traditional parameterizations, which represent the bulk effect of the unresolved eddies, can be improved with new subgrid models learned directly from data. Zanna and Bolton (ZB20) applied an equation‐discovery algorithm to reveal an interpretable expression parameterizing the subgrid momentum fluxes by mesoscale eddies through the components of the velocity‐gradient tensor. In this work, we implement the ZB20 parameterization into the primitive‐equation GFDL MOM6 ocean model and test it in two idealized configurations with significantly different dynamical regimes and topography. The original parameterization was found to generate excessive numerical noise near the grid scale. We propose two filtering approaches to avoid the numerical issues and additionally enhance the strength of large‐scale energy backscatter. The filtered ZB20 parameterizations led to improved climatological mean state and energy distributions, compared to the current state‐of‐the‐art energy backscatter parameterizations. The filtered ZB20 parameterizations are scale‐aware and, consequently, can be used with a single value of the non‐dimensional scaling coefficient for a range of resolutions. The successful application of the filtered ZB20 parameterizations to parameterize mesoscale eddies in two idealized configurations offers a promising opportunity to reduce long‐standing biases in global ocean simulations in future studies.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2009752
- PAR ID:
- 10552528
- Publisher / Repository:
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 1942-2466
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Energy exchanges between large-scale ocean currents and mesoscale eddies play an important role in setting the large-scale ocean circulation but are not fully captured in models. To better understand and quantify the ocean energy cycle, we apply along-isopycnal spatial filtering to output from an isopycnal 1/32° primitive equation model with idealized Atlantic and Southern Ocean geometry and topography. We diagnose the energy cycle in two frameworks: 1) a non-thickness-weighted framework, resulting in a Lorenz-like energy cycle, and 2) a thickness-weighted framework, resulting in the Bleck energy cycle. This paper shows that framework 2 is more useful for studying energy pathways when an isopycnal average is used. Next, we investigate the Bleck cycle as a function of filter scale. Baroclinic conversion generates mesoscale eddy kinetic energy over a wide range of scales and peaks near the deformation scale at high latitudes but below the deformation scale at low latitudes. Away from topography, an inverse cascade transfers kinetic energy from the mesoscales to larger scales. The upscale energy transfer peaks near the energy-containing scale at high latitudes but below the deformation scale at low latitudes. Regions downstream of topography are characterized by a downscale kinetic energy transfer, in which mesoscale eddies are generated through barotropic instability. The scale- and flow-dependent energy pathways diagnosed in this paper provide a basis for evaluating and developing scale- and flow-aware mesoscale eddy parameterizations. Significance Statement Blowing winds provide a major energy source for the large-scale ocean circulation. A substantial fraction of this energy is converted to smaller-scale eddies, which swirl through the ocean as sea cyclones. Ocean turbulence causes these eddies to transfer part of their energy back to the large-scale ocean currents. This ocean energy cycle is not fully simulated in numerical models, but it plays an important role in transporting heat, carbon, and nutrients throughout the world’s oceans. The purpose of this study is to quantify the ocean energy cycle by using fine-scale idealized numerical simulations of the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Our results provide a basis for how to include unrepresented energy exchanges in coarse global climate models.more » « less
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Abstract Parameterization of mesoscale eddies in coarse resolution ocean models is necessary to include the effect of eddies on the large‐scale oceanic circulation. We propose to use a multiple‐scale Quasi‐Geostrophic (MSQG) model to capture the eddy dynamics that develop in response to a prescribed large‐scale flow. The MSQG model consists in extending the traditional quasi geostrophic (QG) dynamics to include the effects of a variable Coriolis parameter and variable background stratification. Solutions to this MSQG equation are computed numerically and compared to a full primitive equation model. The large‐scale flow field permits baroclinically unstable QG waves to grow. These instabilities saturate due to non‐linearities and a filtering method is applied to remove large‐scale structures that develop due to the upscale cascade. The resulting eddy field represents a dynamically consistent response to the prescribed background flow, and can be used to rectify the large‐scale dynamics. Comparisons between Gent‐McWilliams eddy parameterization and the present solutions show large regions of agreement, while also indicating areas where the eddies feed back onto the large scale in a manner that the Gent‐McWilliams parameterization cannot capture. Also of interest is the time variability of the eddy feedback which can be used to build stochastic eddy parameterizations.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2023MS004104
