{"title":"Stochastic model for the turbulent ocean heat flux under Arctic sea ice.","authors":"S Toppaladoddi, A J Wells","doi":"10.1103/PhysRevE.111.025101","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The physics of planetary climate features a variety of complex systems that are challenging to model as they feature turbulent flows. A key example is the heat flux from the upper ocean to the underside of sea ice which provides a key contribution to the evolution of the Arctic sea ice cover. Here, we develop a model of the turbulent ice-ocean heat flux using coupled ordinary stochastic differential equations to model fluctuations in the vertical velocity and temperature in the Arctic mixed layer. All the parameters in the model are determined from observational data. A detailed comparison between the model results and measurements made during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) project reveals that the model is able to capture the probability density functions (PDFs) of velocity, temperature, and heat flux fluctuations. Furthermore, we show that the temperature in the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean can be treated as a passive scalar during the whole year of SHEBA measurements. The stochastic model developed here provides a computationally inexpensive way to compute an observationally consistent PDF of this heat flux and has implications for its parametrization in regional and global climate models.</p>","PeriodicalId":48698,"journal":{"name":"Physical Review E","volume":"111 2-2","pages":"025101"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Physical Review E","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.025101","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PHYSICS, FLUIDS & PLASMAS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The physics of planetary climate features a variety of complex systems that are challenging to model as they feature turbulent flows. A key example is the heat flux from the upper ocean to the underside of sea ice which provides a key contribution to the evolution of the Arctic sea ice cover. Here, we develop a model of the turbulent ice-ocean heat flux using coupled ordinary stochastic differential equations to model fluctuations in the vertical velocity and temperature in the Arctic mixed layer. All the parameters in the model are determined from observational data. A detailed comparison between the model results and measurements made during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) project reveals that the model is able to capture the probability density functions (PDFs) of velocity, temperature, and heat flux fluctuations. Furthermore, we show that the temperature in the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean can be treated as a passive scalar during the whole year of SHEBA measurements. The stochastic model developed here provides a computationally inexpensive way to compute an observationally consistent PDF of this heat flux and has implications for its parametrization in regional and global climate models.
期刊介绍:
Physical Review E (PRE), broad and interdisciplinary in scope, focuses on collective phenomena of many-body systems, with statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics as the central themes of the journal. Physical Review E publishes recent developments in biological and soft matter physics including granular materials, colloids, complex fluids, liquid crystals, and polymers. The journal covers fluid dynamics and plasma physics and includes sections on computational and interdisciplinary physics, for example, complex networks.