Showing papers by "Patrick Heimbach published in 2005"

Estimating Eddy Stresses by Fitting Dynamics to Observations Using a Residual-Mean Ocean Circulation Model and Its Adjoint

Abstract: A global ocean circulation model is formulated in terms of the “residual mean” and used to study eddy–mean flow interaction Adjoint techniques are used to compute the three-dimensional eddy stress field that minimizes the departure of the coarse-resolution model from climatological observations of temperature The resulting 3D maps of eddy stress and residual-mean circulation yield a wealth of information about the role of eddies in large-scale ocean circulation In eddy-rich regions such as the Southern Ocean, the Kuroshio, and the Gulf Stream, eddy stresses have an amplitude comparable to the wind stress, of order 02 N m � 2 , and carry momentum from the surface down to the bottom, where they are balanced

NASA Supercomputer Improves Prospects for Ocean Climate Research

Abstract: Estimates of ocean circulation constrained by in situ and remotely sensed observations have become routinely available during the past five years, and they are being applied to myriad scientific and operational problems [Stammer et al.,2002]. Under the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE), several regional and global estimates have evolved for applications in climate research, seasonal forecasting, naval operations, marine safety, fisheries,the offshore oil industry, coastal management, and other areas. This article reports on recent progress by one effort, the consortium for Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), toward a next-generation synthesis of ocean and sea-ice data that is global, that covers the full ocean depth, and that permits eddies.