[MITgcm-support] Boussinesq equations ?

[Martin Losch]

Nicolas,

in general the equations for the ocean (z-coordinates) are Boussinesq.

You can use p-coordinates (default for atmosphere) also in the ocean,  
and then the equations are non-boussinesq (but cannot be non- 
hydrostatic). This is described in Marshall etal and Losch et al, see  
references below.

Martin


@Article{marshall04:_isomorphism,
   author =	 {John Marshall and Alistair Adcroft and Jean-Michel
                   Campin and Christopher Hill and Andy White},
   title =	 {Atmosphere-Ocean Modeling Exploiting Fluid
                   Isomorphisms},
   journal =	 mwr,
   year =	 2004,
   volume =	 132,
   number =	 12,
   pages =	 {2882--2994}
}

@Article{losch04:_nonb,
   author =	 {Martin Losch and Alistair Adcroft and Jean-Michel
                   Campin},
   title =	 {How Sensitive are Coarse General Circulation Models
                   to Fundamental Approximations in the Equations of
                   Motion?},
   journal =	 jpo,
   year =	 2004,
   volume =	 34,
   number =	 1,
   pages =	 {306--319}
}

On 23 Oct 2007, at 15:13, Nicolas Grisouard wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have been reproducing laboratory experiments with the mitgcm for  
> a few months and it works pretty well but despite my efforts, a  
> question remains:
>
> Do I solve Boussinesq equations?
>
> I thought that the answer was yes until I read that the code could  
> go beyond this approximation. As the stratification is the most  
> important physical parameter in the process at stake (internal  
> gravity waves), it is pretty interesting for me to know this.
>
> Thank you in advance for those who have the answer, or who know  
> documents on this topic.
>
> -- 
> Nicolas GRISOUARD
> Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels
> Equipe THEO
> BP 53
> 38041 Grenoble cedex 9
> France
> tel : +33 (0)476 825 037
>
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