Simulations with the 1/20° nested Atlantic Ocean ocean-sea-ice model VIKING20X
Acronym
VIKING20X
Name
Simulations with the 1/20° nested Atlantic Ocean ocean-sea-ice model VIKING20X
Description
This project provides output for simulations conducted with the 1/20° nested Atlantic Ocean model configuration VIKING20X. It is performed under atmospheric forcing of the past decades, simulating the Atlantic Ocean circulation and hydrography variability on daily to multi-decadal timescales with a spatial resolution sufficient to capture mesoscale processes up to subarctic latitudes.
The model configuration is based on the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1464816) code version 3.6, in combination with the Louvain la Neuve Ice Model (LIM2; https://doi.org/10.1029/97JC00480). The global domain at 1/4° resolution (ORCA025; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-006-0082-1) embeds the eddy-rich 1/20° nest using the two-way nesting technique Adaptive Grid Refinement In Fortran (AGRIF; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2007.01.009). The nest covers the Atlantic Ocean from 33.5°S to ∼65°N. The atmospheric forcing data are applied through bulk formulae.
Key scientific values:
The “eddy-rich” coverage and the atmospheric forcing provide a configuration that realistically simulates various key aspects of wind-driven and thermohaline ocean dynamics such as large-scale structure of the mean flow, the distribution and strength of mesoscale eddies, western boundary current structures, or the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.
This configuration allows the possibility to fill observational gaps for the benefit of an improved understanding of the ocean as well as to include or use the high-resolution model output in disciplines like marine biology, marine traffic, ocean health and their societal and economic implications.
A full description and evaluation of the large-scale circulation is given in:
Biastoch et al. 2021, Regional Imprints of Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Eddy-rich Ocean Model VIKING20X, Ocean. Sci., 17, 1177–1211, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1177-2021.