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Study of seasonal variability and heat budget of the East Australian Current using two eddy-resolving ocean circulation models

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Abstract

Two mutually exclusive ocean models, Ocean general circulation model for the Earth Simulator (OFES) and the Bluelink ReANalysis (version 2.1; BRAN2.1), and the spin-up model (SPINUP4) of BRAN2.1 were used to investigate seasonal variability of the East Australian Current (EAC). These model outputs were tested against satellite and in situ data. The seasonally averaged sea surface temperature (SST) in the OFES and SPINUP4 shows a negative bias of 1 °C. However, the OFES, SPINUP4, and BRAN2.1 have a similar seasonal cycle in SST. The annual mean EAC transport computed at 28°S from the three models shows a good agreement with annual mean transport computed using the in situ data. However, they have considerable differences in terms of annual cycle. A better performance of the BRAN2.1 in simulating the temperature field is a result of data assimilation. The advection of heat across the open boundaries contributes ∼50 % of the heat content change in the region. This study suggests that the advection by the EAC plays a significant role in heat content change of the region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank UNSW@ADFA RT scholarship program for funding this research. They are grateful to Dr. David Griffin and Dr. Peter Oke for providing Bluelink reanalysis data, to Dr. H. Sasaki and the Asia Pacific Data-Research Center for granting access to the Earth Simulator datasets, and to Dr. Andrew Kiss for useful discussion. Two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Environmental Mathematical Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia

    Xiao Hua Wang, Vihang Bhatt & Youn-Jong Sun

  2. Institute for Coastal Research, Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Vihang Bhatt

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  1. Xiao Hua Wang
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  2. Vihang Bhatt
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Correspondence to Xiao Hua Wang.

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Responsible Editor: Leo Oey

This article is part of the Topical Collection on the 4th International Workshop on Modelling the Ocean in Yokohama, Japan 21–24 May 2012

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Wang, X.H., Bhatt, V. & Sun, YJ. Study of seasonal variability and heat budget of the East Australian Current using two eddy-resolving ocean circulation models. Ocean Dynamics 63, 549–563 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-013-0605-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-013-0605-5

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