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CATKE: a turbulent-kinetic-energy-based parameterization for ocean microturbulence with dynamic convective adjustment
  • +8
  • Gregory LeClaire Wagner,
  • Adeline Hillier,
  • Navid C Constantinou,
  • Simone Silvestri,
  • Andre Nogueira Souza,
  • Keaton Burns,
  • Ali Ramadhan,
  • Christopher N. 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
Australian National University
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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 Burns
MIT
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Ali Ramadhan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Christopher N. Hill
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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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 ocean microturbulence with scales between 1 and 100 meters. CATKE is a one-equation model that predicts diffusive turbulent vertical fluxes a prognostic turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and a diagnostic mixing length that features a dynamic model for convective adjustment (CA). With its convective mixing length, CATKE predicts not just the depth range where microturbulence acts but also the timescale over which mixing occurs, an important aspect of turbulent convection not captured by convective adjustment schemes. As a result, CATKE can describe the competition between convection and other processes such as baroclinic restractification or biogeochemical production-destruction. We estimate CATKE’s free parameters with a posteriori calibration to eighteen large eddy simulations of the ocean surface boundary layer, and validate CATKE against twelve additional large eddy simulations with stronger and weaker forcing than used during calibration. We find that a CATKE-parameterized single column model accurately predicts the depth structure of buoyancy and momentum at vertical resolutions between 2 and 16 meters and with time steps of 10-20 minutes. We propose directions for future model development, and future efforts to recalibrate CATKE’s parameters against more comprehensive and realistic datasets.
16 Jun 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
23 Jun 2023Published in ESS Open Archive