The Role of Horizontal Boundaries in Parameter Sensitivity and Decadal-Scale Variability of Coarse-Resolution Ocean General Circulation Models

TLDR: In this paper, a coarse-resolution f-plane and β-plane frictional geostrophic model was used to study the response to restored surface buoyancies and fixed surface buoyancy fluxes and found that the overturning and meridional buoyancy transport generally follow the scaling from thermal wind and vertical advective-diffusive balance.

Abstract: Coarse-resolution f-plane and β-plane frictional geostrophic models are used to study the response to restored surface buoyancies and fixed surface buoyancy fluxes. With restored surface buoyancies it is found that the overturning and meridional buoyancy transport generally follow the scaling from thermal wind and vertical advective–diffusive balance When maximum midbasin rather than maximum overall streamfunction is used as the metric, the sensitivity of overturning magnitude to vertical diffusivity agrees quite closely with that of a two-dimensional Rayleigh frictional model that follows an analogous scaling. This measure of meridional overturning, as well as the meridional buoyancy transport, also roughly follow the predicted f−1/3 scaling and are relatively insensitive to variations in β and horizontal viscosity. The sensitivity experiments indicate that the coarse-resolution model overturning and thermodynamic structure are well characterized by the adjustment of a uniformly rotating viscous...