Scope, background, and purpose

So far in our models the physical characteristics of velocity and diffusivity have been specified or “hard-wired” into the calculations. The next step to consider is allowing them to respond to changing conditions. In this chapter, we will be developing and exploring a class of models aimed at simulating the seasonal behavior of the upper ocean in response to changing atmospheric forcing. We subsequently will extend this model to simulate the response of dissolved gases in the upper ocean. This approach can be more generally applied to other shallow water column properties (including bio-optical modeling, particle dynamics, etc.) with very minor modifications. What we're trying to show you here is not just how to design, build, and extend the model, but more importantly how to figure out what the model is actually doing, and how to compare its performance quantitatively with actual observations.

Generalizations

There are two general types of upper ocean models (although there are hybrids of these two as well). There are the bulk mixed layer models which, as the name suggests, treat the mixed layer as a homogeneous, well-mixed box, within which properties including chemical species, temperature, salinity, and physical momentum are uniformly distributed.