5:15 PM - 7:15 PM
[ACG40-P09] High-Resolution Regional Ocean Modeling of the East/Japan Sea: Resolving Submesoscale Dynamics and Wind Forcing Effects
Keywords:Regional Ocean Modeling , MOM6, submesoscale eddies, hybrid coordinate
The East/Japan Sea (EJS) is a semi-enclosed sea located in the mid-latitude East Asian Sea that exhibits many characteristics of large-scale ocean systems. Cold waters from the Okhotsk Sea in the north and warm waters from the East China Sea in the south converge to form a zonally oriented polar front approximately 39–40°N. Along this front, submesoscale eddies emerge from the interplay of mesoscale eddies, topography, and local oceanographic conditions. These eddies play a key role in enhancing turbulent mixing, facilitating the upward transport of nutrients, and promoting phytoplankton productivity, even though large areas of the EJS remain underobserved, leaving gaps in understanding its complex dynamics.
This study presents the establishment and evaluation of a high-resolution (1/48°) regional ocean model for the EJS using GFDL MOM6 (Modular Ocean Model Version 6). The model is configured on an Arakawa C-grid with a spatial resolution of approximately 2 km and employs a hybrid vertical coordinate system that combines z* and isopycnal coordinates with 75 layers. The initial and open boundary conditions are taken from high-resolution (1/24°) Northwest Pacific Ocean reanalysis (KOOS-OPEM), which effectively reproduces the key features of the EJS.
We investigated the sensitivity of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC), a western boundary current, to wind forcing. We examined the separation latitude of the EKWC under different wind forcing datasets, including the ERA5 dataset from ECMWF and the UM model from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Furthermore, to assess the representation of submesoscale eddies, the kinetic energy spectrum and systematic evaluation will be displayed.
This study presents the establishment and evaluation of a high-resolution (1/48°) regional ocean model for the EJS using GFDL MOM6 (Modular Ocean Model Version 6). The model is configured on an Arakawa C-grid with a spatial resolution of approximately 2 km and employs a hybrid vertical coordinate system that combines z* and isopycnal coordinates with 75 layers. The initial and open boundary conditions are taken from high-resolution (1/24°) Northwest Pacific Ocean reanalysis (KOOS-OPEM), which effectively reproduces the key features of the EJS.
We investigated the sensitivity of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC), a western boundary current, to wind forcing. We examined the separation latitude of the EKWC under different wind forcing datasets, including the ERA5 dataset from ECMWF and the UM model from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Furthermore, to assess the representation of submesoscale eddies, the kinetic energy spectrum and systematic evaluation will be displayed.