ALBERT

Description: Intrinsic oscillations of stable geophysical surface frontal currents of the unsteady, nonlinear, reduced-gravity shallow-water equations on an f plane are investigated analytically and numerically. For frictional (Rayleigh) currents characterized by linear horizontal velocity components and parabolic cross sections, the primitive equations are reduced to a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations. In the inviscid case, two periodic analytical solutions of the nonlinear problem describing 1) the inertially reversing horizontal displacement of a surface frontal current having a fixed parabolic cross section and 2) the cross-front pulsation of a coastal current emerging from a motionless surface frontal layer are presented. In a linear and in a weakly nonlinear context, analytical expressions for field oscillations and their frequency shift relative to the inertial frequency are presented. For the fully nonlinear problem, solutions referring to a surface frontal coastal current are obtained analytically and numerically. These solutions show that the currents oscillate always superinertially, the frequency and the amplitude of their oscillations depending on the magnitude of the initial disturbance and on the squared current Rossby number. In a linear framework, it is shown that disturbances superimposed on the surface frontal current are standing waves within the bounded region, the frequencies of which are inertial/superinertial for the first mode/higher modes. In the same frame, a zeroth mode, which could be interpreted as the superposition of an inertial wave on a background vorticity field, would formally yield subinertial frequencies. For surface frontal currents affected by Rayleigh friction, it is shown that the magnitude of the mean current decays according to a power law and that the oscillations decay faster, because this decay follows an exponential law. Implications of the intrinsic oscillations and of their rapid dissipation for the near-inertial motion in an active ambient ocean are discussed.

Description: Aspects of the dynamics of internal solitary waves evolving in a three-layer ocean are investigated using a new numerical multilayer model that solves the nonlinear, weakly nonhydrostatic Boussinesq equations and uses high-resolution in situ data. The model applications refer to two different phenomena frequently observed in the real ocean, which can be described using a three-layer model rather than a two-layer model. In the first application the influence of the strength of a shallow seasonal thermocline superimposed on a two-layer permanent stratification on the structure of internal solitary waves is studied. It is found that while for small to medium wave amplitudes a decrease in the strength of the thermocline yields an increase in the simulated wavelengths, for large wave amplitudes this dependence is no longer monotonic. In particular, in the limiting case of a vanishing thermocline, first-mode internal solitary wave solutions of the three-layer numerical model tend to the analytical internal solitary wave solutions of the Miyata equations, a two-layer model, in which the full nonlinearity of the shallow-water theory up to first-order phase dispersion is retained. In the second application that refers particularly to high-resolution observations made north and south of the Strait of Messina in the Eurafrican Mediterranean basin the generation of internal solitary waves by the evolution of surface and subsurface water jets is investigated. The analysis of the in situ data shows in fact that from very energetic surface and subsurface jet-like disturbances subject to strong turbulent mixing internal solitary waves emerge as robust, quasi-nondissipative oceanic features. Idealized flow conditions aimed at approximating possible initial stages of the observed water jets are imposed to force our numerical model. In general, good agreement is found between characteristics of observed and simulated wave fields. Our investigation identifies the observed water jets as peculiar features of the complex ocean dynamics and suggests that layered numerical models can represent helpful tools in understanding fundamental processes inherent in their intricate dynamics.

Description: This study presents aspects of the spatial and temporal variability of abyssal water masses in the Ionian Sea, as derived from recent temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and velocity observations and from comparisons between these and former observations. Previous studies showed how in the Southern Adriatic Sea the Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) became fresher (ΔS ≈ −0.08) and colder (ΔT ≈ −0.1°C) after experiencing warming and salinification between 2003 and 2007. Our data, collected from October 2009 to July 2010 from two bottom moorings, one within the Strait of Otranto and the other in the northern Ionian, confirm this tendency: a bottom vein of southward-flowing AdDW, whose temperature and salinity continuously decreased during the observation time, was detected there. Typically, the vein travel time between the two stations ranged between 45 and 50 days. This gave us a temporal estimate for AdDW anomaly propagation towards the Ionian abyss from their Adriatic generation region. The density excess of the observed vein was always enough to enable its existence as a bottom-arrested current. This evidence confirms that, at that time (2009 and 2010), the Adriatic Sea was greatly contributing to the formation of Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water (EMDW), the bottom water of the Eastern Mediterranean. Hence, based on these results and on the evidence that, from 2003 to 2009, abyssal Ionian waters became saltier and warmer under the time-lagged influence of AdDW, possible future changes in the EMDW characteristics, as a response to Adriatic variability, are discussed.

Description: The analysis of high-resolution oceanographic data referring to velocity measurements carried out by means of a vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler on 12 November 2000 in the equatorial Atlantic, at 44°W between 4.5° and 6°N, reveals the presence of three large-amplitude internal solitary waves superimposed on the velocity field associated with the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). These waves were found in the deep ocean, more than 500 km off the continental shelf and far from regions of topographic variations. They propagated toward the north-northeast, strongly inclined with respect to the main axis of the NECC and perpendicular to the Brazilian shelf, as well as to the North Brazil Current, and were characterized by maximum horizontal velocities of about 2 m s−1 and maximum vertical velocities of about 20 cm s−1. The large magnitudes of the measured velocities indicate that the observed waves represent disturbances evolving in a strongly stratified ocean. The distance separating the waves (about 70 km) indicates that the observed features cannot be considered as elements of a single train of internal solitary waves. The waves consist, instead, of truly disconnected, pulselike intense solitary disturbances. This behavior, which strongly differs from that typically observed for trains of tidally generated internal solitary waves, indicates that different mechanisms were possibly involved in their generation and/or evolution.

Description: The dynamics of the Rhine outflow plume in the proximity of the river mouth is investigated by using remote sensing data and numerical simulations. The remote sensing data consist of 41 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by the First and Second European Remote Sensing satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2 over the outflow region of the river Rhine. Most of them show sea surface signatures of oceanic phenomena, for example, surface current and wind variations, ship wakes, and oil slicks. In particular, in 36 of these images pronounced frontal features are visible as narrow zones of mainly enhanced, sometimes enhanced/reduced radar backscatter that can be associated with the Rhine surface front. Within the area enclosed by the frontal line, large zones characterized by a lower radar backscatter than in the outer area are often visible. The analysis of the ERS SAR images suggests that the form and the location of the frontal features are mainly linked to the semidiurnal tidal phase in the outflow region, although their variability suggests also that they weakly depend on river discharge, residual currents, and neap-spring tidal cycle. In order to test this observational hypothesis, the results obtained from the analysis of the ERS SAR images are compared with the results obtained from the numerical simulation of the hydrodynamics of the Rhine outflow region carried out using a two-layer, frontal model, which is based on the nonlinear, hydrostatic shallow-water equations on an f plane. The model is forced by prescribing tidal and residual currents and river discharge at the open boundaries. Several simulations are performed by varying the values of these forcing parameters. The numerical results corroborate the observational conjecture: It is found that the form and the location of the simulated interface outcropping lines in the proximity of the river mouth are mainly determined by the semidiurnal tidal phase in the outflow region and that river discharge, residual currents, and neap-spring tidal cycle contribute only secondarily to their determination. Inserting the simulated surface velocity field into a simple radar-imaging model that relates the modulation of the backscattered radar power to the surface velocity convergence in radar look direction, narrow, elongated bands of enhanced radar backscatter emerge near the model frontal line while patches of low radar backscatter appear within the simulated Rhine plume area. The consistency of the model results with the results obtained from the analysis of the SAR images enables one to infer a mean spatial and temporal evolution of the Rhine outflow plume over a semidiurnal tidal cycle from the analysis of spaceborne SAR images acquired during different tidal cycles over the Rhine outflow area and suggests the possibility of using numerical modeling, in conjunction with the analysis of spaceborne measurements, for monitoring the oceanic variability in the Rhine outflow area

Description: An analysis of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data and in situ current and temperature data obtained between April 1995 and October 1996 from a moored array shows strong intraseasonal fluctuations in the southwestern Arabian Sea, an oceanic region where the Great Whirl (GW), a predominantly wind-generated, very energetic anticyclone, is present during the Southwest Monsoon. Fluctuation periods between 30 and 50 days, up to 100 days during some years, are observed in the 8-year altimetric dataset, mostly during late summer and fall. These fluctuations are largest in a 1000 km-wide region off the Somali, Omani and Yemeni coasts north of 5°N, suggesting a local generation mechanism. The in situ data at different moorings show strong and coherent fluctuations that are characterized by southwestward phase propagation and northward energy propagation. Their periods range from 30 to 60 days and increase steadily from July 1995 to January 1996. In the first stage, these periods are at and below the cut-off period of freely propagating, first baroclinic mode Rossby waves, but approach this theoretical limit later in the year. Instabilities of the flow in the transition region between the Southern Gyre and the GW are likely sources of these fluctuations.

Description: The enhancement of the stratospheric aerosol layer by volcanic eruptions induces a complex set of responses causing global and regional climate effects on a broad range of timescales. Uncertainties exist regarding the climatic response to strong volcanic forcing identified in coupled climate simulations that contributed to the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). In order to better understand the sources of these model diversities, the Model Intercomparison Project on the climatic response to Volcanic forcing (VolMIP) has defined a coordinated set of idealized volcanic perturbation experiments to be carried out in alignment with the CMIP6 protocol. VolMIP provides a common stratospheric aerosol data set for each experiment to minimize differences in the applied volcanic forcing. It defines a set of initial conditions to assess how internal climate variability contributes to determining the response. VolMIP will assess to what extent volcanically forced responses of the coupled ocean–atmosphere system are robustly simulated by state-of-the-art coupled climate models and identify the causes that limit robust simulated behavior, especially differences in the treatment of physical processes. This paper illustrates the design of the idealized volcanic perturbation experiments in the VolMIP protocol and describes the common aerosol forcing input data sets to be used.

Description: Aspects of the decay of stable frontal warm-core eddies in the deep ocean are investigated using a new numerical layered “frontal” model that solves the nonlinear, reduced-gravity, shallow-water equations for a horizontally inhomogeneous, viscous fluid on an f plane. After a discussion on aspects of the numerical techniques implemented to allow for the eddy expansions and contractions at the sea surface, for the first time the capability of a numerical model of reproducing the evolution of analytical nonstationary frontal vortices is explored. This step is necessary, as far as different phenomena related to the dynamics of these oceanic features are to be studied numerically. In fact the comparison between numerical and analytical inviscid solutions allows for a quantification of the numerical dissipation affecting the simulated solutions. This dissipation is found to be very small in this numerical model: The simulated lifetimes are larger than those of most of the frontal eddies observed in the World Ocean. On this basis, the eddy decay due to interfacial (linear and quadratic) friction, harmonic horizontal momentum diffusion, as well as linear ambient-water entrainment is investigated. It is found that interfacial friction represents a much more efficient mechanism than horizontal diffusion and water entrainment in inducing the eddy decay as well as in damping the eddy pulsations. It is thus suggested that internal wave radiation due to vortex pulsation can represent a relevant mechanism for the dissipation of the vortex energy in a stratified ambient ocean only episodically. Finally, a critical discussion about the appropriateness of the different approximations assumed in the investigation is presented. In particular, the appropriateness of the reduced-gravity assumption is discussed. Results are consistent with those obtained analytically in the frame of the frontal-geostrophic theory: Although the effect of an active ambient layer on the vortex dynamics is found to be virtually absent only for unrealistically large water depths, it appears that the reduced-gravity model describes warm-core eddies acceptably for values of the ratio between maximum vortex thickness and total water depth typical for Gulf Stream rings.

Description: A two-dimensional, high-resolution, non-linear, two-layer, free-surface, boundary-fitted co-ordinate, hydrostatic model was applied to study the time–space variability of hydraulic controls and the development of internal bores in the Strait of Gibraltar. The model predicts the occurrence of four averaged (over a tropical month) controls located to the west of the Spartel Sill, at the Spartel and Camarinal Sills and in the Tarifa Narrows. The last of these controls is apparent in the sense that it consists of discrete fragments alternating with subcritical flow regions. The only control which extends over the whole width of the strait is the control at the Camarinal Sill, but it breaks down during neap tide, too. This control exists concurrently with the control in the Tarifa Narrows for short periods, while for much of the tropical month there is either just one or neither of the controls. The model predicts the development of a hydraulic jump and a jump-drop pair near the Camarinal Sill; the appearance of bulges of Mediterranean water to the east and west of the sill; the large-amplitude and small-amplitude internal bores released from the Camarinal Sill, which travel, respectively, eastward and westward, and their transformation due to radial spreading and dissipative effects. Also presented here are the results illustrating the effects of earth's rotation on the internal bores in the Strait of Gibraltar.