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A two-time-level split-explicit ocean circulation model (MASNUM) and its validation

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Abstract

A two-time-level, three-dimensional numerical ocean circulation model (named MASNUM) was established with a two-level, single-step Eulerian forward-backward time-differencing scheme. A mathematical model of large-scale oceanic motions was based on the terrain-following coordinated, Boussinesq, Reynolds-averaged primitive equations of ocean dynamics. A simple but very practical Eulerian forward-backward method was adopted to replace the most preferred leapfrog scheme as the time-differencing method for both barotropic and baroclinic modes. The forward-backward method is of second-order of accuracy, computationally efficient by requiring only one function evaluation per time step, and free of the computational mode inherent in the three-level schemes. This method is superior to the leapfrog scheme in that the maximum time step of stability is twice as large as that of the leapfrog scheme in staggered meshes thus the computational efficiency could be doubled. A spatial smoothing method was introduced to control the nonlinear instability in the numerical integration. An ideal numerical experiment simulating the propagation of the equatorial Rossby soliton was performed to test the amplitude and phase error of this new model. The performance of this circulation model was further verified with a regional (northwest Pacific) and a quasi-global (global ocean simulation with the Arctic Ocean excluded) simulation experiments. These two numerical experiments show fairly good agreement with the observations. The maximum time step of stability in these two experiments were also investigated and compared between this model and that model which adopts the leapfrog scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Lei Han

  2. Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Lei Han

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  1. Lei Han
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Correspondence to Lei Han.

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Foundation item: The National Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 40906017 and 41376038; the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863 Program) of China under contract No. 2013AA09A506; the National Key Scientific Research Projects under contract No. 2012CB955601; the Special Projects on Public Sector under contract Nos 200905024 and 201409089.

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Han, L. A two-time-level split-explicit ocean circulation model (MASNUM) and its validation. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 33, 11–35 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-014-0553-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-014-0553-z

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