Eddy resolution versus eddy diffusion in a double gyre GCM. Part II: mixing of passive tracers

Abstract

The coarse-resolution tracer simulations presented here indicate that there is no eddy diffusivity field consistently determined that when combined with a coarse advective velocity field can totally reproduce the tracer distribution and the meridional tracer fluxes comparable to those obtained from the eddy-resolving version of the model. However, the use of a spatially dependent horizontal diffusivity field greatly improves the accuracy of the passive tracer simulations (compared to the eddy-resolving simulations) over the use of a constant eddy diffusion coefficient. -from Author