9 research outputs found
Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere–ocean coupling
We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere–ocean
modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere
model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a
strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme
air–sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and
March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limitée Adaptation
dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the
atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM)
(1°∕30 × 1°∕30 angular resolution) on the ocean side.
The atmosphere–ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model
coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is
limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled
atmosphere–ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform
and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three
locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of
2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard
deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern
part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to
20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event.
When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a
4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled
system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but
does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled
atmosphere component is up to 0.3 °C colder than the one-way coupled
setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily
spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows
0.15 °C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the
uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are
predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences