TOPS-COUPLED EOTS (TEOTS) ANALYSIS MODEL

The coupling of ocean thermal analyses to atmospheric forces is accomplished via the physics incorporated in the Thermodynamic Ocean Prediction System (TOPS) model. The coupling prevents mixed-layer depths and mixed-layer temperatures from following strictly climatologi-cal trends. For example, consider a rapidly deepening low-pressure system with strong winds and heavy seas. Such a system normally produces strong mechanical mixing, which in turn produces deeper layer depths. However, if the strong winds and seas occur over an area of the ocean from which little or no ocean thermal data is received, and atmospheric conditions are NOT considered, EOTS uses the climatological mean of the layer depth in the area. In such a case, the LD would be too shallow for the existing conditions.

The TEOTS model is run once every 24 hours and is coupled to TOPS in cyclical fashion. The analysis system is exacting the same as EOTS, except for the coupling procedure and a different prescription of certain tuning parameters. Like EOTS, the FIB technique is used to combine the various types of data.  

TEOTS is used to produce ocean temperature versus depth profiles and PLD analyses for oceans of the Northern and Southern hemispheres and for individual seas, that is, the eastern and western Mediterranean Sea and the Norwegian Sea.

Learning Objective: Identify the primary elements used in FLENUMOCEANCENs ocean frontal analysis model.

Ocean fronts separate water of different physical, chemical, and biological properties. Ocean fronts are much like atmospheric fronts in that (1) they move, but are much slower than atmospheric fronts; (2) they may be sharply defined or difficult to locate; (3) segments may be quasi-stationary; and (4) intensity changes occur with time. Prior to the ocean frontal model being developed, a large number of oceanic parameters were tried and tested to see which parameters would provide the best analysis. Salinity and biological parameters were not even considered, because of the lack of synoptic data. When all the testing was complete, FLENUMOCEANCEN settled on surface and subsurface temperatures as the parameters it would use. Like numerical atmospheric frontal analysis, a GG operator is used to describe oceanic fronts. It is applied to fine-mesh SST analyses and to fine-mesh subsurface temperature analyses. The latter are obtained in the ocean thermal structure analyses performed by EOTS.

Frontal analyses based on fine-mesh SST fields are considered very reliable. Frontal analyses based on subsurface thermal fields are NOT considered to be overly reliable, because subsurface data inputs are drastically sparse. You should be aware of which field is used for input and know the locations of the observations used to make the field in order to evaluate the reliability of any ocean frontal analysis.

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