Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models.
Any type of non-buoyant material in the ocean is transported horizontally by currents during its sinking journey. This lateral transport can be far from negligible for small sinking velocities. To estimate its magnitude and direction, the material is often modelled as a set of Lagrangian particles a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2020-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238650 |
| _version_ | 1818666754726952960 |
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| author | Peter D Nooteboom Philippe Delandmeter Erik van Sebille Peter K Bijl Henk A Dijkstra Anna S von der Heydt |
| author_facet | Peter D Nooteboom Philippe Delandmeter Erik van Sebille Peter K Bijl Henk A Dijkstra Anna S von der Heydt |
| author_sort | Peter D Nooteboom |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Any type of non-buoyant material in the ocean is transported horizontally by currents during its sinking journey. This lateral transport can be far from negligible for small sinking velocities. To estimate its magnitude and direction, the material is often modelled as a set of Lagrangian particles advected by current velocities that are obtained from Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). State-of-the-art OGCMs are strongly eddying, similar to the real ocean, providing results with a spatial resolution on the order of 10 km on a daily frequency. While the importance of eddies in OGCMs is well-appreciated in the physical oceanographic community, other marine research communities may not. Further, many long term climate modelling simulations (e.g. in paleoclimate) rely on lower spatial resolution models that do not capture mesoscale features. To demonstrate how much the absence of mesoscale features in low-resolution models influences the Lagrangian particle transport, we simulate the transport of sinking Lagrangian particles using low- and high-resolution global OGCMs, and assess the lateral transport differences resulting from the difference in spatial and temporal model resolution. We find major differences between the transport in the non-eddying OGCM and in the eddying OGCM. Addition of stochastic noise to the particle trajectories in the non-eddying OGCM parameterises the effect of eddies well in some cases (e.g. in the North Pacific gyre). The effect of a coarser temporal resolution (once every 5 days versus monthly) is smaller compared to a coarser spatial resolution (0.1° versus 1° horizontally). We recommend to use sinking Lagrangian particles, representing e.g. marine snow, microplankton or sinking plastic, only with velocity fields from eddying Eulerian OGCMs, requiring high-resolution models in e.g. paleoceanographic studies. To increase the accessibility of our particle trace simulations, we launch planktondrift.science.uu.nl, an online tool to reconstruct the surface origin of sedimentary particles in a specific location. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T06:09:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ae522cef5854f4b8f40b6ad7aefde15 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T06:09:34Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ae522cef5854f4b8f40b6ad7aefde152022-12-21T22:00:40ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01159e023865010.1371/journal.pone.0238650Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models.Peter D NooteboomPhilippe DelandmeterErik van SebillePeter K BijlHenk A DijkstraAnna S von der HeydtAny type of non-buoyant material in the ocean is transported horizontally by currents during its sinking journey. This lateral transport can be far from negligible for small sinking velocities. To estimate its magnitude and direction, the material is often modelled as a set of Lagrangian particles advected by current velocities that are obtained from Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). State-of-the-art OGCMs are strongly eddying, similar to the real ocean, providing results with a spatial resolution on the order of 10 km on a daily frequency. While the importance of eddies in OGCMs is well-appreciated in the physical oceanographic community, other marine research communities may not. Further, many long term climate modelling simulations (e.g. in paleoclimate) rely on lower spatial resolution models that do not capture mesoscale features. To demonstrate how much the absence of mesoscale features in low-resolution models influences the Lagrangian particle transport, we simulate the transport of sinking Lagrangian particles using low- and high-resolution global OGCMs, and assess the lateral transport differences resulting from the difference in spatial and temporal model resolution. We find major differences between the transport in the non-eddying OGCM and in the eddying OGCM. Addition of stochastic noise to the particle trajectories in the non-eddying OGCM parameterises the effect of eddies well in some cases (e.g. in the North Pacific gyre). The effect of a coarser temporal resolution (once every 5 days versus monthly) is smaller compared to a coarser spatial resolution (0.1° versus 1° horizontally). We recommend to use sinking Lagrangian particles, representing e.g. marine snow, microplankton or sinking plastic, only with velocity fields from eddying Eulerian OGCMs, requiring high-resolution models in e.g. paleoceanographic studies. To increase the accessibility of our particle trace simulations, we launch planktondrift.science.uu.nl, an online tool to reconstruct the surface origin of sedimentary particles in a specific location.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238650 |
| spellingShingle | Peter D Nooteboom Philippe Delandmeter Erik van Sebille Peter K Bijl Henk A Dijkstra Anna S von der Heydt Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. PLoS ONE |
| title | Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. |
| title_full | Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. |
| title_fullStr | Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. |
| title_short | Resolution dependency of sinking Lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models. |
| title_sort | resolution dependency of sinking lagrangian particles in ocean general circulation models |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238650 |
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