Adjoint data assimilation in an open ocean barotropic quasi-geostrophic model

A barotropic quasi-geostrophic ocean model with open boundaries was used to model a system of mid-ocean eddies. A simplified adjoint assimilation scheme was tested to see if sparse velocity data could be assimilated into the model at regular intervals. In between the times for data assimilation, the model was integrated forward in time with an Orlanski radiating boundary condition. This assimilation scheme was tested with several model runs, illustrating the changes arising from using different eddy sizes, different density of available data, and different numerical model parameters. This scheme was also compared with a bicubic interpolation scheme. During data assimilation, the resulting velocity field was generally more accurate than that obtained by interpolation alone. However, the Orlanski radiating boundary condition was not very effective in suppressing the growth of errors after data assimilation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - MSc

Level thesis:degree_level

master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Oceanography

Grantor dc:publisher

University of British Columbia

Year dc:date

1993

Author dc:creator

• Bailey, David A.

Statement dc:rights

• For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/2271

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/2271