A fully conserved minimal adjustment scheme with (T, S) coherency for stabilization of hydrographic profiles

Abstract

Anew, fully conservedminimal adjustment schemewith temperature and salinity (T, S) coherency is presented for eliminating false static instability generated fromanalyzing and assimilating stable ocean (T, S) profiles data, that is, from generalized averaging over purely observed data (data analysis) or over modeled/observed data (data assimilation). This approach consists of a variationalmethodwith (a) fully (heat, salt, and potential energy) conserved conditions, (b)minimal adjustment, and (c) (T, S) coherency. Comparisonwith three existing schemes (minimal adjustment, conserved minimal adjustment, and convective adjustment) using observational profiles and a simple one-dimensional ocean mixed layer model shows the superiority of this new scheme. © 2012 American Meteorological Society.