Decorrelation length scales in NEMO ORCA12

Adam Blaker, Elaine McDonagh, Ben Moat, Brian King, Andrew Coward

Current speed at 100m depth

SS

SS

ST

January ClimatologyORCA12 EN3

Marzocchi et al (2014) in prep

Atlantic MOC at 26oN Florida StraitsObs: 31.56 (3.02)O12: 28.57 (1.56)

AMOCObs: 17.47 (4.78)O12: 12.57 (3.72)

EkmanObs: 3.19 (3.32)O12: 2.56 (2.26)

UMOObs: -17.22 (3.47)O12: -18.44 (2.07)

Year

Increased AABW transport

Marzocchi et al (2014) in prep

Winter mixed layer depth

Peak winter MLD in early 1990s

Marzocchi et al (2014) in prep

• T anomalies on neutral density much smaller than on depth levels

• Fine scale features present even at ~2km depth

Typical length scale 500-600km

Gaussfit currently not working for points at/near most extreme T anomalies

Need to check fit behavior in some regions (e.g. here)

~2km

~3km

~4km

• Peak (~500-600km) still present deeper down

• Shortest (100-300km) length scales probably a processing issue (maybe proximity to bathymetry or because T anomalies become very small at depth)

Next steps

•Verify gaussfit behavior

•Explore zonal vs meridional dependence

•Investigate time dependence of length scales

•Extend analysis in deep ocean

•Extend analysis to Global ocean