Publication Date:
1997-01-01
Description:
The Arctic represents a relatively pristine frontier that is vulnerable to pollution. Substances originating at mid latitudes are transported to the Arctic by atmospheric processes, ocean currents and rivers. These pollutants can accumulate in the Arctic environment. Testing of nuclear weapons, dumping of waste and operation of ships, and nuclear power plants also pose threats. To investigate possible pollutant pathways we used a multi-level primitive-equation ocean model, coupled to a dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model. Coupling included conservative transfer of momentum, heat and fresh water. Atmospheric forcing (wind stress, temperature, humidity, radiation and heat fresh-water fluxes) was supplied by datasets or bulk formulae. Open lateral-boundary conditions for the ocean model were supplied either by datasets (temperature and salinity) or from a larger-scale ocean model (momentum). Two integrations were compared — one used a centred-difference advection scheme and viscous damping, while the other used a better representation of an advection scheme and a sub-gridscale eddy parameterization. Tracer simulations showed (1) the importance of good representation of numerical advection, and (2) the role of eddy interacting with sea-floor topography (the neptune effect).
Print ISSN:
0260-3055
Electronic ISSN:
1727-5644
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
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