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About the advantages of vertically adaptive coordinates
in numerical models of stratified shelf seas
Hans Burchard1, Ulf Gräwe1, Richard Hofmeister2, Peter Holtermann1, Inga Hense3 and Jean-Marie
Beckers4
1. Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Germany2. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute for Coastal Research,
Germany3. ClimaCampus, University of Hamburg, Germany
4. GHER, University of Liege, Belgium
The North Sea – Baltic Sea system: A modelling challenge
Strong tides
Seasonal stratificationPermanent stratification
Dense inflows
Transport pathways in the Baltic Sea
heating a t sum m er
overflow s
outflow s
seasonal therm ocline
cooling a t w in ter
in terna lm ixing
perm anent ha locline
uplift
in terleaving
in terna lw ave m ixing
bottomcurrententra inm ent
surface w avem ixing
boundarym ixing
convectiveentra inm ent
shear-inducedentra inm ent
d ifferentia ladvection
riverrunoff
w ind stresscoasta lupw elling
sun
Reissmann et al. (2009)
Inflow approximation problem of geopotential coordinates
Geopotential coordinate problem (bottom)
Inflows
Geopotential coordinate problem (surface)
Additionally, both coordinate types share the problem of numerical mixing.
Geopotential coordinates typically have coarse near-surface resolution.
What is mixing ?
Salinity equation (no horizontal turbulent transport):
Salinity variance equation:
?
Mixing is dissipation of tracer variance.
Numerical mixing due to tracer advection can be calculated.
Burchard and Rennau (2008)
Sufficient vertical resolution cannot be obtained with fixed coordinates.
Fixed coordinate problem (moving isopycnals)
Isopycnal coordinates would fix this part, but cause problems in mixed layers.
Adaptive vertical grids in GETM
hor. filteringof layer heightsVertical zooming
of layer interfaces towards:
a) Stratification
b) Shear
c) surface/ bottom
z
bottom
Vertical d
irection
Horizontal direction
hor. filteringof vertical position
Lagrangiantendency
isopycnaltendency
Solution of a vertical diffusion equation for the coordinate position
Burchard & Beckers (2004); Hofmeister, Burchard & Beckers (2010a)
Adaptive vertical coordinates
along transect in 600 m Western Baltic Sea model
Gräwe et al. (in prep.)
1 nm Baltic Sea model with adaptive coordinates
- refinement partially towards isopycnal coordinates- reduced numerical mixing- reduced pressure gradient errors- still allowing flow along the bottom
salinity
temperature
km
Hofmeister, Beckers & Burchard (2011)
Feistel et al., 2004
Observations
November 2003
Channelled gravity current in Bornholm Channel
sigma-coordinates
adaptive coordinates
- stronger stratification with adaptive coordinates- larger core of g.c.- salinity transport increased by 25%
- interface jet along the coordinates
Hofmeister, Beckers & Burchard (2011)
Gotland Sea time series
3d baroclinic simulation 50 adaptive layers vs. 50 sigma layers
num. : turb. mixing80% : 20%
num. : turb. mixing50% : 50%
Hofmeister, Beckers & Burchard (2011)
Holtermann et al. (in prep.)
Grid adaptation in Central Baltic Sea(additional adaptation to injected tracer)
Conclusions
In stratified flow simulations, the numerically induced mixing maybe of the same order or even much larger than the physical mixing.
Vertical coordinate adaptation leads to optimised model resolution in a waythat its additional computational effort is strongly overcompensated by the gain in accuracy.
Vertical coordinate adaptation can also be applied to biogeochemical properties or other tracers (in addition to u & T & S).
The vertically adaptive coordinates are so far implemented into GETM,but implementation into any other ocean model using general vertical coordinates should be straight forward.
Advantages of vertically adaptive coordinates are substantial for shelf seasimulations, but also large scale simulations should profit from this concept.