Structure and dynamics of the Rhodes Gyre system and dynamical interpolation for estimates of the mesoscale variability

Abstract

A coastal quasigeostrophic (QG) methodology is extended in an exploration of the mesoscale variability of the Rhodes Gyre region of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, given multiscale data taken as part of the POEM program. Standard objective analysis procedures are modified to include a coastal constraint that prohibits geostrophic flow normal to the coastline and imposes a characteristic nearshore variability in the coastal portion of the domain. Objectively analyzed fields are dynamically adjusted in short QG model integrations and then interpreted for the structure and characteristics of the subbasin scale flow system and the mesoscale. Two-week simulations are then performed to explore the stability of the subbasin scale flow, the dynamical balances, and the variabilities and interactions of the mesoscale. A matrix of simulation experiments is described to test the sensitivities to two variations in initial conditions, and three parameterizations of the bottom topography. An energy and vorticity analysis (EVA) is used to study balance of terms and dynamical processes in the central simulation. (A)