Title: Enhancing Turbulence in Ocean Models
Laure Zanna, University of Oxford

Abstract:

The role of turbulent mesoscale (10-100km) eddies is crucial for the ocean circulation and its energy budget. The sub-grid scale eddy variability needs to be parametrized in ocean models, even at so-called eddy permitting resolutions. I will present some recent advances we have made in representing turbulent eddy fluxes using a non-Newtonian stress.  The non-Newtonian stress  depends on the partially resolved scales and their variability and is shown to be a good parametrization of ocean turbulence by enhancing the kinetic energy inverse cascade. The parametrization possesses attractive features for implementation in global models:  little computational cost,  flow- and scale-awareness, and a dependence on the life cycle of mesoscale turbulence. 

Please contact Ed Gerber (gerber@cims.nyu.edu) if you’d like an opportunity to meet with Laure.