A Numerical Calculation of the Circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Abstract A series of numerical experiments are carried out to simulate the three-dimensional circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and to examine the dynamics therein. The calculations are partly diagnostic in that the density field is not predicted but is given from observations. The main predicted quantities are the velocity and pressure fields. The results of the basic experiment are compared with observations. The surface currents are quite similar to observations based upon ship drift data, and the surface pressure field is nearly identical to the height of the free surface constructed from a level-of-no-motion hypothesis. The deep pressure variations are nowhere flat or level, however, and the predicted deep currents are quite complex. They are, in fact, strongly controlled by bottom topography and tend to follow f/H contours, where f is the Coriolis parameter and H the depth. The Gulf Stream transport is quite large, reaching a maximum value of 81×106 m3 sec−1, despite the lack of important inert...