Model simulations of seventeen years of mixed layer evolution at Ocean Station Papa

Abstract

The bulk second order closure method of Garwood (1977) is used to predict the well-mixed layer depth and temperature evolution at Ocean Station Papa for the years 1953-1969. The time dependent boundary conditions are the specification of the surface buoyancy flux and wind stress derived from the 3-hourly atmospheric observations. Much of the variance of the well-mixed layer depth and temperature evolution is obviously associated with the annual cycle. However, a closer inspection of the results reveals a variability related to the synoptic response of the sea-surface temperature and mixed layer depth to both strong and light wind events. The simulations are not intended to be a best fit, but rather a demonstration of the capability of a one-dimensional model to simmulate the interannual variability observed at OWS Papa.