Ocean Mixing with Lead-Dependent Subgrid Scale Brine Rejection Parameterization in a Climate Model

Sea ice thickness is highly spatially variable and can cause uneven ocean heat and salt flux on subgrid scales in climate models.Previous studies have demonstrated improvements in ocean mixing simulation using parameterization schemes that distribute brine rejection directly in the upper ocean mixed layer.In this study,idealized ocean model experiments were conducted to examine modeled ocean mixing errors as a function of the lead fraction in a climate model grid.When the lead is resolved by the grid,the added salt at the sea surface will sink to the base of the mixed layer and then spread horizontally.When averaged at a climate-model grid size,this vertical distribution of added salt is lead-fraction dependent.When the lead is unresolved,the model errors were systematic leading to greater surface salinity and deeper mixed-layer depth(MLD).An empirical function was developed to revise the added-salt-related parameter n from being fixed to lead-fraction dependent.Application of this new scheme in a climate model showed significant improvement in modeled wintertime salinity and MLD as compared to series of CTD data sets in 1997/1998 and 2006/2007.The results showed the most evident improvement in modeled MLD in the Arctic Basin,similar to that using a fixed n=5,as recommended by the previous Arctic regional model study,in which the parameter n obtained is close to 5 due to the small lead fraction in the Arctic Basin in winter.

An approach to determine coeffi cients of logarithmic velocity vertical profile in the bottom boundary layer

Velocity vertical profiles in the bottom boundary layer are important to understand the oceanic circulation.The logarithmic vertical profile,u=A ln z+B,is the universal profile for the horizontal velocity in the boundary layer,in which two coefficients(A and B)need to be determined.The two coefficients are the functions of the friction velocity(u_(*))and the roughness length(z_(0)),and they are calculated using u_(*)and z_(0).However,the measurement of u_(*)and z_(0) is a challenge.In the present study,an approach is developed to estimate the two coefficients(A and B)by using a series of fl ume laboratory experiments with fl at boundary and regularly distributed cylinders as the rough boundaries.An acoustic doppler velocimeter(ADV)is used to measure the velocity vertical profiles of the steady flow.Using the measured velocity data,the regressed logarithmic profiles are obtained.Based on the series of the A and B values,the mathematical formula for A and B are statistically established as the function of the cylinder height,inflow velocity,and the water depth,which avoids the measurement of the friction velocity and the roughness length.

Sensitivity study of subgrid scale ocean mixing under sea ice using a two-column ocean grid in climate model CESM

Brine drainage from sea ice formation plays a critical role in ocean mixing and seasonal variations of halocline in polar oceans. The horizontal scale of brine drainage and its induced convection is much smaller than a climate model grid and a model tends to produce false ocean mixing when brine drainage is averaged over a grid cell. A two-column ocean grid （TCOG） scheme was implemented in the Community Earth System Model （CESM） using coupled sea ice-ocean model setting to explicitly solve the different vertical mixing in the two sub- columns of one model grid with and without brine rejection. The fraction of grid with brine rejection was tested to be equal to the lead fraction or a small constant number in a series of sensitivity model runs forced by the same atmospheric data from 1978 to 2009. The model results were compared to observations from 29 ice tethered profilers （ITP） in the Arctic Ocean Basin from 2004 to 2009. Compared with the control run using a regular ocean grid, the TCOG simulations showed consistent reduction of model errors in salinity and mixed layer depth （MLD）. The model using a small constant fraction grid for brine rejection was found to produce the best model comparison with observations, indicating that the horizontal scale of the brine drainage is very small compared to the sea ice cover and even smaller than the lead fraction. Comparable to models using brine rejection parameterization schemes, TCOG achieved more improvements in salinity but similar in MLD.