A numerical study of sea ice and ocean circulation in the Arctic.

Abstract

An ice ocean model for the Arctic is developed on the basis of bulk viscous plastic dynamics and three layer thermodynamics, coupled to a multilevel primitive equation model of the Arctic Ocean and Greenland Sea. It is intended to model oceanic phenomena with long time scales in the intermediate and deep water and to be able to predict future climatic states in which the oceanic variables may be substantially different from those at present. Observed temperature and salinity are not forced towards observed values in the interior and are prescribed only at inflow boundaries such as the Faeroe Shetland Channel and the Bering Strait.