Modeling Mesoscale Eddies: the Effects of Resolution onOcean Turbulence

We describe a non-adiabatic idealized model for studying mesoscale turbulence in the global ocean. Using the ocean model Oceananigans, we perform a grid refinement study to determine the minimal resolution required to represent mesoscale eddies in the primitive equations. Convergence is evaluated through several metrics, including surface and depth-integrated kinetic energy, spectra, and zonally-averaged temperature, in order to establish quantitative resolution thresholds for physical fidelity. We find that while coarse-resolution simulations capture large-scale flow features, key mesoscale dynamics—including vertical stratification gradients and kinetic energy spectra—only converge at resolutions finer than 1/4°. Differences between the 1/8° and 1/16° simulations are small, suggesting that 1/8° resolution may be sufficient for resolving the mesoscale eddy field for many diagnostic purposes in idealized setups.

Name thesis:degree_name

Bachelor

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Brock, Lucy

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ferrari, Raffaele

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159904

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/159904