The cascade of dense waters off the Southeast Greenland shelf during summer 2003 is investigated with two very high-resolution (0.5-km) simulations. The first simulation is non-hydrostatic. The second simulation is hydrostatic and about 3.75 times less expensive. Both simulations are compared to a 2-km hydrostatic run, about 31 times less expensive than the 0.5 km non-hydrostatic case. Time-averaged volume transport values for deep waters are insensitive to the changes in horizontal resolution and vertical momentum dynamics. By this metric, both lateral stirring and vertical shear instabilities associated with the cascading process are accurately parameterized by the turbulent schemes used at 2-km horizontal resolution. All runs compare well with observations and confirm that the cascade is mainly driven by cyclones which are linked to dense overflow boluses at depth. The passage of the cyclones is also associated with the generation of internal gravity waves (IGWs) near the shelf. Surface fields and kinetic energy spectra do not differ significantly between the runs for horizontal scales View the MathML sourceL>30km. Complex structures emerge and the spectra flatten at scales View the MathML sourceL<30km in the 0.5-km runs. In the non-hydrostatic case, additional energy is found in the vertical kinetic energy spectra at depth in the 2 km View the MathML source<L<10km range and with frequencies around 7 times the inertial frequency. This enhancement is missing in both hydrostatic runs and is here argued to be due to the different IGW evolution and propagation offshore. The different IGW behavior in the non-hydrostatic case has strong implications for the energetics: compared to the 2-km case, the baroclinic conversion term and vertical kinetic energy are about 1.4 and at least 34 times larger, respectively. This indicates that the energy transfer from the geostrophic eddy field to IGWs and their propagation away from the continental slope is not properly represented in the hydrostatic runs
Hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic simulations of dense waters cascading off a shelf: the East Greenland case
Magaldi Marcello G;
2015
Abstract
The cascade of dense waters off the Southeast Greenland shelf during summer 2003 is investigated with two very high-resolution (0.5-km) simulations. The first simulation is non-hydrostatic. The second simulation is hydrostatic and about 3.75 times less expensive. Both simulations are compared to a 2-km hydrostatic run, about 31 times less expensive than the 0.5 km non-hydrostatic case. Time-averaged volume transport values for deep waters are insensitive to the changes in horizontal resolution and vertical momentum dynamics. By this metric, both lateral stirring and vertical shear instabilities associated with the cascading process are accurately parameterized by the turbulent schemes used at 2-km horizontal resolution. All runs compare well with observations and confirm that the cascade is mainly driven by cyclones which are linked to dense overflow boluses at depth. The passage of the cyclones is also associated with the generation of internal gravity waves (IGWs) near the shelf. Surface fields and kinetic energy spectra do not differ significantly between the runs for horizontal scales View the MathML sourceL>30km. Complex structures emerge and the spectra flatten at scales View the MathML sourceL<30km in the 0.5-km runs. In the non-hydrostatic case, additional energy is found in the vertical kinetic energy spectra at depth in the 2 km View the MathML sourceI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
