An energy-constrained parameterization of eddy buoyancy flux

Abstract

A parameterization for eddy buoyancy fluxes for use in coarse-grid models is developed and tested against eddy-resolving simulations. The development is based on the assumption that the eddies are adiabatic (except near the surface) and the observation that the flux of buoyancy is affected by barotropic, depth-independent eddies. Like the previous parameterizations of Gent and McWilliams (GM) and Visbeck et al. (VMHS), the horizontal flux of a tracer is proportional to the local large-scale horizontal gradient of the tracer through a transfer coefficient assumed to be given by the product of a typical eddy velocity scale and a typical mixing length. The proposed parameterization differs from GM and VMHS in the selection of the eddy velocity scale, which is based on the kinetic energy balance of baroclinic eddies. The three parameterizations are compared to eddy-resolving computations in a variety of forcing configurations and for several sets of parameters. The VMHS and the energy balance parameterizations perform best in the tests considered here. © 2008 American Meteorological Society.