Abstract:
Numerical ocean models have become multi-disciplinary research tools used in a variety of ocean-related areas, including coupled physical-biogeochemical studies, climate simulations, and coastal ocean predictions. Working with Dale Haidvogel at Rutgers, Dr. Song proposed the S-coordinate system (Song and Haidvogel 1994) for better resolving surface and bottom layers of ocean models and developed the S-Coordinate Rutgers University Model (SCRUM), which has become a widely used community model with subsequent contributions from other developers ( http://marine.rutgers.edu/po/models). He further improved the model by introducing the Jacobin scheme to calculate the pressure gradient terms accurately over sleep topography in coastal regions (Song 1998; Song and Wright 1998).

Recently, Dr. Song developed an adaptive vertical coordinate system for Navy's operational applications as well as for community research. The newly developed ocean model (Figure 1), and its predecessors SCRUM/ROMS, has been successfully applied to many coastal regions. One of the applications at JPL is the Southern California Bight model (Figure 2) for studying coastal air-sea interaction using QuikSCAT winds (joint with Tim Liu and Wendy Tang). The model, forced by the QuikSCAT winds, successfully simulated the meandering California Current (southward), cyclonic circulations with the Bight, and the Davison near-shore Current (northward). This study demonstrated that spacebased observations could be used to advance coastal ocean studies.

Figure 1: Schematic of the newly developed adaptive vertical coordinate system for community ocean models with multiple application capabilities.

Figure 2: Ocean model results for the Southern California coastal ocean (3 km resolution): velocity field at σ_t=26.6 km/m³ shows the meandering southward California Current, the nearshore northward Davison Current, and the cyclonic circulation within the Bight.

Reference:
Song, Y. T., and D. Haidvogel, 1994: A semi-implicit primitive equation ocean circulation model using a generalized topography-following coordinate system. J. Comput. Phys., 115, 228-244.

Song, Y. T., 1998: A general pressure gradient formulation for ocean models. Part I: Scheme design and diagnostic analysis, Monthly Weather Review, 126, 3213-3230.

Song, Y. T., and D. Wright, 1998: A general pressure gradient formulation for ocean models. Part II: Energy, momentum, and bottom torque consistency, Monthly Weather Review, 126, 3231-3247.