The main goal of on this Climate Modeling and Process team is to formulate and test in IPCC-class climate models parameterizations for the eddy transport in and near the surface boundary layer. A combination of data and very high resolution numerical models has been used to investigate eddy dynamics in the upper ocean. Using this body of work, a parameterization scheme for mesoscale eddy transport in the diabatic surface layer and a parameterization scheme for restratification driven by submesoscale eddies have been formulated and implemented in the community climate models. They show a large impact on the oceanic mean state, especially close to the surface. These modifications are likely to imply climate sensitivity in coupled models through the impact on air-sea exchange. Some of the implications for coupled climate models will be investigated. Specifically, this renewal will complete work in the following areas: . completing the implementation of the new parameterizations in the ocean climate models at NCAR, GFDL, and MIT and studying their impact in coupled ocean-atmosphere models, . comparing model outputs versus eddy statistics estimated from global data sets and from new data that will become available over the next three years from the oceanographic field campaigns, . completing the process studies of mesoscale-submesoscale interactions in the upper ocean with special emphasis on the roles of restratification, wind forcing, and frontogenesis, . modifying the new parameterizations to account for new aspects of upper ocean physics only recently revealed by the team.
Intellectual merit. Our knowledge of the Earth's climate system depends largely on our understanding of physical processes and integration of those processes in numerical models. The project will continue making fundamental progress in upper ocean physics, in improving physics in climate models, and in understanding the sensitivity of climate to upper ocean processes.
Broader impacts. The proposed research has many broader implications. Most obviously, climate has an enormous impact on the human condition, and the project is directly focused on improving the ocean component of the climate models that simulate and attempt to predict climate and climate change. Two young scientists and three postdocs (among the most promising talents in the field) will be trained in the area of climate research and ocean modeling. The team has also been active in a number of outreach activities and meets for yearly workshops to disseminate early results. Special sessions on Eddy-Mixed Layer Interactions has been organized at major scientific meeting and a web-site (http://cpt-emilie.org/) was created to advertise the research under way and workshop activities.
This project is a contribution to the U.S. CLIVAR (CLImate VARiability and predictability) program.
