An extended variable-grid global ocean circulation model and its preliminary results of the equatorial Pacific circulation

To investigate the interaction between the tropical Pacific and China seas a variable-grid global ocean circulation model with fine grid covering the area from 20°S to 50°N and from 99° to 150°E is developed. Numerical computation of the annually cyclic circulation fields is performed. The results of the annual mean zonal currents and deep to abyssal western boundary currents in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are reported. The North Equatorial Current,the North Equatorial Countercurrent, the South Equatorial Current and the Equatorial Undercurrent are fairly well simulated. The model well reproduces the northward flowing abyssal western boundary current.From the model results a lower deep western boundary current east of the Bismarck-Solomon-New Hebrides Island chain at depths around 2 000 m has been found. The model results also show that the currents in the equatorial Pacific Ocean have multi-layer structures both in zonal currents and western boundary currents, indicating that the global ocean overturning thermohaline circulation appears of multi-layer pattern.

Quasi-hydrostatic Primitive Equations for Ocean Global Circulation Models

Global existence of weak and strong solutions to the quasi-hydrostatic primitive equations is studied in this paper. This model, that derives from the full non-hydrostatic model for geophysical fluid dynamics in the zero-limit of the aspect ratio, is more realistic than the classical hydrostatic model, since the traditional approximation that consists in neglecting a part of the Coriolis force is relaxed. After justifying the derivation of the model, the authors provide a rigorous proof of global existence of weak solutions, and well-posedness for strong solutions in dimension three.

SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF THE INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW FROM A VARIABLE-GRID GLOBAL OCEAN MODEL

The objective of this study is to model the mean and seasonal mass transportof the Pacific to Indian O-cean throughflow using variable-grid global Ocean General CirculationModel (OGCM) with fine grid (1°/6) covering the area from 20°S to 60°N and from 98°E to 156°E.The computations show that Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) mass transport, computed as a sum ofthrough-strait transport, has maximum transport in Sept. (17. 5Sv) and minimum transport in Jan. (9.5Sv). The annual mean ITF transport amounts to 14. 5Sv. Twenty-two percent of this transport passesthrough Lombok Strait. Sixty-five percent of this transport passes through Timor Passage.Semi-annual variability is apparent in Lombok and Ombai Straits while annual variability is apparentin Timor Passage.

The annual mean sketches and climatological variability of the volume and heat transports through the inter-basin passages:A study based on 1 400-year spin up of MOM4p1

The annual mean volume and heat transport sketches through the inter-basin passages and transoceanic sections have been constructed based on 1400-year spin up results of the MOM4p 1. The spin up starts from a state of rest, driven by the monthly climatological mean force from the NOAAWorld Ocean Atlas （1994）. The volume transport sketch reveals the northward transport throughout the Pacific and southward transport at all latitudes in the Atlantic. The annual mean strength of the Pacific-Arctic-Atlantic through flow is 0.63x106 m3/s in the Bering Strait. The majority of the northward volume transport in the southern Pacific turns into the Indonesian through flow （ITF） and joins the Indian Ocean equatorial current, which subse- quently flows out southward from the Mozambique Channel, with its majority superimposed on the Ant- arctic Circumpolar Current （ACC）. This anti-cyclonic circulation around Australia has a strength of 11 x 106 ms /s according to the model-produced result. The atmospheric fresh water transport, known as P-E^R （pre- cipitation minus evaporation plus runoff）, constructs a complement to the horizontal volume transport of the ocean. The annual mean heat transport sketch exhibits a northward heat transport in the Atlantic and poleward heat transport in the global ocean. The surface heat flux acts as a complement to the horizontal heat transport of the ocean. The climatological volume transports describe the most important features through the inter-basin passages and in the associated basins, including： the positive P-E＋R in the Arctic substantially strengthening the East Greenland Current in summer; semiannual variability of the volume transport in the Drake Passage and the southern Atlantic-Indian Ocean passage; and annual transport vari- ability of the ITF intensifying in the boreal summer. The climatological heat transports show heat storage in July and heat deficit in January in the Arctic; heat storage in January and heat deficit in July in the Antarctic circumpolar current regime （ACCR）; and intensified heat transport of the iTF in July. The volume transport of the ITF is synchronous with the volume transport through the southern Indo-Pacific sections, but the year-long southward heat transport of the ITF is out of phase with the heat transport through the equatorial Pacific, which is northward before May and southward after May. This clarifies the majority of the ITF origi- natinR from the southern Pacific Ocean.