Parameterization of mixed layer eddies. III: Implementation and impact in global ocean climate simulations

By B. Fox‐Kemper, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Raffaele Ferrari, S. Griffies, Robert Hallberg, Marika M. Holland, Mathew E. Maltrud, Synte Peacock, B. Samuels. 2010

374 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract A parameterization for the restratification by finite-amplitude, submesoscale, mixed layer eddies, formulated as an overturning streamfunction, has been recently proposed to approximate eddy fluxes of density and other tracers. Here, the technicalities of implementing the parameterization in the coarse-resolution ocean component of global climate models are made explicit, and the primary impacts on model solutions of implementing the parameterization are discussed. Three global ocean general circulation models including this parameterization are contrasted with control simulations lacking the parameterization. The MLE parameterization behaves as expected and fairly consistently in models differing in discretization, boundary layer mixing, resolution, and other parameterizations. The primary impact of the parameterization is a shoaling of the mixed layer, with the largest effect in polar winter regions. Secondary impacts include strengthening the Atlantic meridional overturning while reducing its variability, reducing CFC and tracer ventilation, modest changes to sea surface temperature and air–sea fluxes, and an apparent reduction of sea ice basal melting.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/26b757e7f7d75029a8c7b6fce292ee26f2b0a511

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Citations in the corpus

The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris (2020, background): “However, climate models that parameterise Langmuir turbulence and submesoscale fronts and eddies predict them to be globally ubiquitous (Fox-Kemper et al 2011, Li et al 2016).”
A global perspective on Langmuir turbulence in the ocean surface boundary layer (2012, neutral): “Finally, a recent parameterization of the restratification of the OSBL by submesoscale eddies [ Fox-Kemper et al. , 2008] reduces many of the deep biases in climate models [ Fox-Kemper et al. , 2011], but it exacerbates the shallow biases, such as in the Southern Ocean.”
The form and orientation of Langmuir cells for misaligned winds and waves (2012, background): “In more realistic scenarios, restratification mechanisms [Fox-Kemper et al., 2008, 2011] (e.g., solar heating or mixed layer eddies) would reduce the mixed layer depth toward the Langmuir or other boundary layer mixing depth where turbulence is strong.”
Variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in CCSM4 (2012, positive): “POP2 uses the Gent and McWilliams (1990) mesoscale eddy parameterization in its skew flux form (Griffies 1998).”
Resolving and Parameterising the Ocean Mesoscale in Earth System Models (2020, background): “Nevertheless, taking the Rossby radius as a guide, three regimes of models [32] can be defined: eddy-parameterising (ocean resolution of O (50 – 100 km) and the current status for the majority of ESMs which mostly employ the Gent – McWilliams (GM) [33] parameterisation of mesoscale eddies), eddy-pre”