High frequency and wavenumber ocean-ice-atmosphere coupling in the Regional Arctic Climate Model
Abstract
We present results from the fully coupled version of the Regional Arctic Climate Model (RACM) on the spectral and noise characteristics of high-frequency (20-minute) dynamic coupling between the 9km Parallel Ocean Program/Community Ice Code (POP/CICE) and 50km Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) using the CPL7 framework. We have employed an array of signal processing techniques to investigate: 1) Synchronization of the inertial response of POP and CICE to the passage of storms in WRF, and wavelet coherence of these results with in-situ observations of drift and deformation in the Arctic Ocean; 2) High-wavenumber signals in the sea ice deformation pattern resulting super-inertial coupling and aliasing of the wind field in CPL7, and the influence of these factors on the transmission of wind stress curl into the deep ocean; 3) The impact of high frequency ocean-ice-atmosphere coupling on the modeled sea ice thickness distribution. For this last set of experiments, we have run a set of winter band-limited integrations, filtering out high-frequency WRF inputs to the sea ice and ocean components. These experiments suggest the most pronounced regional influence of super-inertial coupling on sea ice mass extends from the Greenland Sea through Fram Strait to the North Pole, although there is also a significant basin-wide deformation pattern emanating from high spatiotemporal coupling in RACM.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.C33G..04R
- Keywords:
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- 0750 CRYOSPHERE / Sea ice;
- 0798 CRYOSPHERE / Modeling;
- 4207 OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL / Arctic and Antarctic oceanography;
- 4540 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL / Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes