Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

An Eddifying Parsons Model

Baylor Fox-Kemper Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

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Raffaele Ferrari Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Print Publication:
01 Dec 2009
Collections:
In Honor of Joseph Pedlosky
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JPO4104.1
Page(s):
3216–3227
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Abstract

The time-mean effects of eddies are studied in a model based on the Parsons–Veronis–Huang–Flierl models of the wind-driven gyre. Much of the analysis used for the steady solutions carries over if the model is cast in terms of the thickness-weighted mean velocity, because then mass transport is nondivergent in the absence of diabatic forcing. The model exemplifies the use of residual mean theory to simplify analysis.

A result of the analysis is a boundary layer width in the case of a rapid upper-layer flow and weak lower-layer flow. This boundary layer width is comparable to an eddy mixing length when the typical eddy velocity is taken to be the long Rossby wave phase speed.

Further analysis of the model illustrates important aspects of eddy behavior, model sensitivity to eddy fluxes, and model sensitivity to frictional parameters.

Corresponding author address: Baylor Fox-Kemper, CIRES, University of Colorado, 216 UCB, Attn: Baylor Fox-Kemper, Boulder, CO 80309-0216. Email: bfk@colorado.edu

This article included in the In Honor of Joseph Pedlosky special collection.

Abstract

The time-mean effects of eddies are studied in a model based on the Parsons–Veronis–Huang–Flierl models of the wind-driven gyre. Much of the analysis used for the steady solutions carries over if the model is cast in terms of the thickness-weighted mean velocity, because then mass transport is nondivergent in the absence of diabatic forcing. The model exemplifies the use of residual mean theory to simplify analysis.

A result of the analysis is a boundary layer width in the case of a rapid upper-layer flow and weak lower-layer flow. This boundary layer width is comparable to an eddy mixing length when the typical eddy velocity is taken to be the long Rossby wave phase speed.

Further analysis of the model illustrates important aspects of eddy behavior, model sensitivity to eddy fluxes, and model sensitivity to frictional parameters.

Corresponding author address: Baylor Fox-Kemper, CIRES, University of Colorado, 216 UCB, Attn: Baylor Fox-Kemper, Boulder, CO 80309-0216. Email: bfk@colorado.edu

This article included in the In Honor of Joseph Pedlosky special collection.

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