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A new method for forming approximately neutral surfaces
Citation
Klocker, A and McDougall, TJ and Jackett, DR, A new method for forming approximately neutral surfaces, Oceans Science, 5 pp. 155-172. ISSN 1812-0806 (2009) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2009 The Authors-This work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.(CC BY 3.0 US)
Official URL: http://www.ocean-sci.net/5/155/2009/os-5-155-2009....
Abstract
We introduce a simple algorithm to improve existing
density surfaces to ensure that the resulting surfaces are
as close to neutral as possible. This means the slopes at any
point on the surfaces are close to neutral tangent planes the
directions along which layered stirring and mixing occurs
minimizing the fictitious diapycnal diffusivity. Inverse techniques
and layered models have been used for decades to understand
ocean circulation. The most-used density surfaces
are potential density or neutral density surfaces. Both these
density surfaces and all others produce a fictitious diapycnal
diffusivity to some degree due to the helical nature of neutral
trajectories with the magnitude of this artificial diffusivity
in some cases being larger than the values measured in the
ocean. Here we show how this error can be reduced by up to
four orders of magnitude and therefore becomes insignificant
compared to measured values, thus providing surfaces which
would produce more accurate results when used for inverse
techniques
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | neutral surfaces |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Oceanography |
Research Field: | Physical oceanography |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
Objective Field: | Understanding climate change not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Klocker, A (Dr Andreas Klocker) |
ID Code: | 91532 |
Year Published: | 2009 |
Deposited By: | IMAS Research and Education Centre |
Deposited On: | 2014-05-21 |
Last Modified: | 2014-06-17 |
Downloads: | 475 View Download Statistics |
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