The impact of surface heat fluxes on the simulation of the brazil current

Abstract

The impact of different formulations of surface heat fluxes (no fluxes, climatological fluxes, restoring of SST towards climatology, climatological fluxes plus SST restoring, and model-computed fluxes via bulk formulas) on the modeling of the Brazil Current is investigated in numerical simulations performed with the Regional Ocean Model (ROMS). While mechanical forcing may be dominant, it is shown that correct upper ocean currents and thermal structure can only be obtained when heat fluxes are implemented, even in regions of strong horizontal advection, and that some form of feedback of the ocean state upon the fluxes is also a necessary condition. This results are of particular importance for ocean modeling developed having operational oceanography in view. © 2013 Sociedade Brasileira de Geofísica.