HR: 10:45h
AN: OS11O-08    [PDF]
TI: Modeling the Mean Circulation and Seasonal Cycle of Monterey Bay, California
AU: * Chao, Y
EM: Yi.Chao@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Li, Z
EM: zhijin@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Marchesiello, P
EM: patrickm@atmos.ucla.edu
AF: University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Penven, P
EM: patrickm@atmos.ucla.edu
AF: University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: McWilliams, J C
EM: jcm@atmos.ucla.edu
AF: University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Chavez, F
EM: chfr@mbari.org
AF: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AB: Ocean circulation and variability in the Monterey Bay (MB), California, has recently received considerable attention. In 1989, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) installed a number of moorings in central MB and initiated frequent time series cruises both within and offshore of MB. MB is probably the most extensively monitored non-estuarine embayment that is broadly open to the coastal ocean. Thus, the MB provides an ideal location to develop a sophisticated 3-dimensional model for coastal oceans. Our modeling goal is to develop a high-resolution physical model for the MB region that is capable of reproducing both the mean MB circulation and the seasonal-to-interannual variability. The physical model is based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), which is a terrain-following vertical coordinate model and solves the hydrostatic primitive equations in three-dimensional curvilinear coordinates. Our initial model domain covers the MB with approximately 1000 km along shore and 500 km offshore. The horizontal resolution is approximately 5 km, and there are 20 sigma layers. Open boundary conditions are applied with prescribed temperature and salinity observations. The baseline atmospheric forcing is derived from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS), including the wind stress, heat and fresh-water fluxes. Starting from the observed temperature and salinity, the 5-km MB ROMS is integrated for ten years forced with the monthly climatological air-sea fluxes. The last five years' simulation is used to define the climatological MB mean circulation and the seasonal cycle. Systematic model and data intercomparisons are conducted with an aim to quantify the success and deficiencies of the MB ROMS. The observational data sets include both surface observations (sea surface temperature and sea level) and vertical cross-sections (CalCOFI Line 67 and MBARI moorings at C1, M1, and M2). One of our major findings is the inadequacy of the COADS wind stress, which is gridded at 100-km spatial resolution and suitable primarily for large-scale models. The impact of a high-resolution (approximately 25-km) satellite scatterometer wind product (from the QuikSCAT mission) on the MB ROMS simulation will be presented.
DE: 4255 Numerical modeling
DE: 4279 Upwelling and convergences
DE: 4516 Eastern boundary currents
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
DE: 4572 Upper ocean processes
SC: OS
MN: 2002 Ocean Sciences Meeting