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Formulation and calibration of CATKE, a one-equation parameterization for microscale ocean mixing
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  • Gregory LeClaire Wagner,
  • Adeline Hillier,
  • Navid C Constantinou,
  • Simone Silvestri,
  • Andre Nogueira Souza,
  • Keaton J. Burns,
  • Chris Hill,
  • Jean-Michel Campin,
  • John C Marshall,
  • Raffaele Ferrari
Gregory LeClaire Wagner
Massachusetts Institution of Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Adeline Hillier
Unknown
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Navid C Constantinou
University of Melbourne
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Simone Silvestri
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Andre Nogueira Souza
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Keaton J. Burns
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Chris Hill
MIT
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Jean-Michel Campin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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John C Marshall
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Raffaele Ferrari
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Abstract

We describe CATKE, a parameterization for fluxes associated with small-scale or “microscale’ ocean turbulent mixing on scales between 1 and 100 meters. CATKE uses a downgradient formulation that depends on a prognostic turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) variable and a diagnostic mixing length scale that includes a dynamic convective adjustment (CA) component. With its dynamic convective mixing length, CATKE predicts not just the depth spanned by convective plumes but also the characteristic convective mixing timescale, an important aspect of turbulent convection not captured by simpler static convective adjustment schemes. As a result, CATKE can describe the competition between convection and other processes such as shear-driven mixing and baroclinic restratification. To calibrate CATKE, we use Ensemble Kalman Inversion to minimize the error between 21~large eddy simulations (LES) and predictions of the LES data by CATKE-parameterized single column simulations at three different vertical resolutions. We find that CATKE makes accurate predictions of both idealized and realistic LES compared to microscale turbulence parameterizations commonly used in climate models.
28 Sep 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
30 Sep 2024Published in ESS Open Archive