Circulation in the North Atlantic derived from Inverse Finite-Element Ocean Model
The circulation in the North Atlantic is estimated byassimilating climatological datasets of Lozier et al. (1995) andGouretski and Kolltermann (2004), and World Ocean Database (2001).A diagnostic inverse model (IFEOM) is used to derive oceantransports from hydrographic data. It is based on a steady-state versionof the finite element ocean general circulation model FEOM (Danilov etal., 2004). A steady state velocity field is determinedfrom the momentum equations, and the advective-diffusive tracerbalance is accounted for as a soft constraint. Due to the flexibilityof the unstructured mesh discretization, the model is ableto resolve complex ocean boundaries (coast and bottom) in an accuratemanner.The analyzed circulation derived from the datasets mentioned above issuperior to single section approaches as it derives a consistent 3D flow fieldsimultaneously for the whole North Atlantic. Results arecompared to each other and to publications. Wediscuss meridional overturning circulation, the barotropic transport andtransports through several sections (including A5, AR1, A2, M50 and AR7E).The intercomparison of datasets shows that climatology ofGouretski and Koltermann (2004) is more dynamically consistentin the North Atlantic than the two other climatologies.
Helmholtz Research Programs > MARCOPOLI (2004-2008) > German community ocean model