A Three-Dimensional Global Ocean Simulation Using an Irregular Grid

摘要

A new ocean general circulation model has been developed which incorporates a two-dimensional, irregular, boundary-conforming grid. The chief advantage of this model is that high resolution may be used locally, within a subset of the global ocean, without the expense of comparable resolution globally, and without the need to truncate the domain to limit the computational cost In addition, the grid is boundary-conforming and eliminates the polar singularity present in Cartesian grids, which limits the model time step. This model can be used to improve understanding of the general circulation of the ocean, and predict its evolution in the course of climate change. Its computational economy is ideal for use in state-of-the-science, coupled, atmosphere-ocean general circulation models. We present here an overview of the grid generation scheme and some recent results obtained using the irregular-grid OGCM.