Implementation of CMA-GFS 3D-Var System on the Yin-Yang Grid

The global three-dimensional variational(3D-Var)data assimilation is implemented on a new quasi-uniform overset(Yin-Yang)grid on sphere.As a quasi-uniform spherical grid,it covers the sphere by overlapping two perpendicularly oriented grid components which is nothing but low latitude region of the usual latitude-longitude grid.Based on this characteristic of the Yin-Yang grid,it enables us to implement the regional 3D-Var system efficiently and accurately on the Yin or Yang component grid,respectively.The global analysis could update directly from the regional analysis since they have the same configurations like the precondition of eigenvalue decomposition for vertical direction,recursive filtering for horizontal direction,minimization method and observation operator and so on.However,the balance equation and vector wind are needed to be paid more attention on the Yin grid analysis due to its coordinate transformation.How to spread the observation information near the boundary of Yin and Yang grid is a key to the 3D-Var analysis.Extending double the horizontal correlation length distance in the overset boundary of Yin and Yang grid has successfully solved the problem.The results show that the analysis on the Yin-Yang grid is reasonable and similar to the result on the latitude-longitude(LAT-LON)grid.This paper provides a promising strategy for the development of a 3D-Var global system for overset grids.

Sensitivity of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to the Dynamical Framework in an Ocean General Circulation Model

The horizontal coordinate systems commonly used in most global ocean models are the spherical latitude-longit- ude grid and displaced poles, such as a tripolar grid. The effect of the horizontal coordinate system on Atlantic meri- dional overturning circulation （AMOC） is evaluated by using an OGCM （ocean general circulation model）. Two ex- periments are conducted with the model---one using a latitude-longitude grid （referred to as Latl） and the other us- ing a tripolar grid （referred to as Tri）. The results show that Tri simulates a stronger North Atlantic deep water （NADW） than Lat_l, as more saline water masses enter the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian （GIN） seas in Tri. The stronger NADW can be attributed to two factors. One is the removal of the zonal filter in Tri, which leads to an in- creasing of the zonal gradient of temperature and salinity, thus strengthening the north geostrophic flow. In turn, it decreases the positive subsurface temperature and salinity biases in the subtropical regions. The other may be associ- ated with topography at the North Pole, because realistic topography is applied in the tripolar grid while the latitude-longitude grid employs an artificial island around the North Pole. In order to evaluate the effect of the filter on AMOC, three enhanced filter experiments are carried out. Compared to Lat_l, an enhanced filter can also aug- ment NADW formation, since more saline water is suppressed in the GIN seas, but accumulated in the Labrador Sea, especially in experiment Lat_2 S, which is the experiment with an enhanced filter on salinity.