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Poseidon V4 Ocean Model

The Poseidon ocean model was introduced and documented by Schopf and Loughe (Mon.Wea. Rev., 3, 1995) and updated to include the effects of salinity (Yang, Lau and Schopf, Climate Dyn., 15, 1999). It is designed with generalized horizontal and vertical coordinates. The formalism ensures conservation of mass, momentum, heat, salt and other tracers under any grid choice. The generalized vertical coordinate includes a turbulent well-mixed surface layer with entrainment parameterized according to a Kraus-Turner bulk mixed layer model. The isopycnal region is treated in a quasi-isopycnal fashion, in which layers do not vanish at outcrops, but retain a thin minimum thickness at all grid points. The treatment of horizontal mixing within the model is implemented with high order Shapiro filtering which is reduced to a flux form. Vertical mixing and diffusion are parameterized using a Richardson number dependent scheme of Pacanowski and Philander (J. Phys. Oceanogr., 11, 1981). The diffusion coefficients calculated according to that scheme are enhanced when needed to simulate convective overturning in cases of gravitationally unstable density profiles.

The current NSIPP version of the OGCM uses a reduced-gravity treatment for the pressure field.

George Mason University: Poseidon Ocean Model