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f67abf1ee3 Jeff*0001
0002 Ocean gyres
0003 -----------
0004
0005
0006 Baroclinic instability is a ubiquitous process in the ocean, as well as the
0007 atmosphere. Ocean eddies play an important role in modifying the
0008 hydrographic structure and current systems of the oceans. Coarse resolution
0009 models of the oceans cannot resolve the eddy field and yield rather broad,
0010 diffusive patterns of ocean currents. But if the resolution of our models is
0011 increased until the baroclinic instability process is resolved, numerical
0012 solutions of a different and much more realistic kind, can be obtained.
0013
0014 :numref:`ocean-gyres` shows the surface temperature and
0015 velocity field obtained from MITgcm run at :math:`\frac{1}{6}^{\circ}`
0016 horizontal resolution on a *lat-lon* grid in which the pole has
0017 been rotated by 90° on to the equator (to avoid the
0018 converging of meridian in northern latitudes). 21 vertical levels are
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Wide character in print at /usr/local/share/lxr/source line 1030, <$git> line 20.
0019 used in the vertical with a ‘lopped cell’ representation of
0020 topography. The development and propagation of anomalously warm and
0021 cold eddies can be clearly seen in the Gulf Stream region. The
0022 transport of warm water northward by the mean flow of the Gulf Stream
0023 is also clearly visible.
0024
0025 .. figure:: figs/atl6.png
0026 :width: 100%
0027 :align: center
0028 :alt: ocean-gyres
0029 :name: ocean-gyres
0030
0031 Instantaneous temperature map from a :math:`\frac{1}{6}^{\circ}` simulation of the North Atlantic. The figure shows the temperature in the second layer (37.5 m deep).
