Modeling the wind and thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean

A variety of experiments has been performed using the GFDL primitive equation model at 1/3° × 2/5° latitude-longitude resolution, examining sensitivity to surface forcing and parameterization choices. In addition, two experiments have been run for a few years at 1/6° × 1/5° resolution and about 30 experiments have been run at 1° × 1.2° resolution for hundreds of years. After a brief description of these results, the implications of these experiments for future ocean model development and for studies of ocean circulation and climate change will be discussed. In particular, we shall examine the potential for improving the surface boundary conditions for the fluxes of heat and fresh water and briefly address issues concerning open boundary conditions and improved physical parameterizations in the CME context. -from Authors