Skill Tests of Three-Dimensional Tidal Currents in a Global Ocean Model: A Look at the North Atlantic.

摘要

We present and apply several skill tests to assess tidal currents generated within a global ocean model compared to an archive of current meter records spanning 40 years. Within the North Atlantic we have identified over 1800 velocity records available for comparison to model output. The skill tests identify those regions where tidal ellipse parameters (semi-major/minor axis, inclination and Greenwich phase) fall within 95% confidence intervals derived from observations. Additional skill tests examine the vertical and horizontal structure of the tidal currents using the correlation and root mean square error between the observations and model. The skill tests account for grid misrepresentation within the model by comparing model values in a local 9-point neighborhood. Both the three-dimensional structure of model tidal currents and barotropic model tidal currents are compared to the altimetry based barotropic model TPXO 7.2.