[MITgcm-support] density anomaly field

[Mathilde Jutras]

Hi,

I am using MITgcm using the sea-ice package, and I have a small question
about the output field RHOAnoma. It is described as Density Anomaly
(=Rho-rhoConst). I use the default rhoConst value, so 999.8. However, I get
values that seem strange to me, ranging from about 0 to -2, which would be
equivalent to 1000 - 1002 kg/m3, rather small values for ocean water
density.
Furthermore, if I compute the density from salinity and temperature, I get
more realistic values, around 1027. There is not simply a constant
difference between the two, but also a multiplying factor of about 2 in the
amplitudes of variations.

I was wondering if there was something to know about the RHOAnoma
parameter, and if there was a reason why results would be different from
the values computed from S and T.

Thank you very much,

Mathilde Jutras
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mitgcm.org/pipermail/mitgcm-support/attachments/20160317/ecfa5486/attachment.htm>