Abstract:

The dataset contains Fortran source code and input files needed to reproduce the large-eddy simulations (LES) reported in Taylor 2018, along with a full set of output files and post-processing scripts. Briefly, simulations were used to examine the dynamics of submesoscale eddies on the distribution and subduction of buoyant material, such as oil droplets and microplastics, in the mixed layer. The parameters used for the simulations are presented in Table 1 of Taylor 2018. The simulations were forced by applying a destabilizing surface buoyancy flux equivalent to cooling the ocean surface, while submesoscales were generated through mixed layer instability (MLI) associated to the horizontal buoyancy gradient. The simulations did not include the effects of wind and waves. This dataset supports the publication: J.R. Taylor (2018). Accumulation and Subduction of Buoyant Material at Submesoscale Fronts. American Meteorological Society, 48: 1233-1241. doi: 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0269.1

Suggested Citation:

John Taylor. 2018. Dataset for: Accumulation and Subduction of Buoyant Material at Submesoscale Fronts. Distributed by: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7T1520X

Publications:

Taylor, J. R. (2018). Accumulation and subduction of buoyant material at submesoscale fronts. Journal of Physical Oceanography. doi:10.1175/jpo-d-17-0269.1

Purpose:

The data were generated from a large-eddy simulation used to study the movement of buoyant tracers (e.g. oil) in the ocean surface boundary layer.

Data Parameters and Units:

This directory contains input and output files from large-eddy simulations reported in Taylor, JPO, 2018: "Accumulation and subduction of buoyant material at submesoscale fronts". Refer to Table 1 in Taylor (2018) for details of each simulation. The output directories are: R0_run1, R0_run2, R0_run3: M^2=3e-8, B0=0 R0p1_run1, R0p1_run2: M^2=3e-8, B0=-0.019e-8 R1_run1, R1_run2: M^2=3e-8, B0=-0.19e-8 R10_run1, R10_run2: M^2=3e-8, B0=-1.9e-8 R0p1_nofront: M^2=0, B0=-0.019e-8 R1_nofront: M^2=0, B0=-0.19e-8 R10_nofront: M^2=0, B0=-1.9e-8 Where M^2 is the background buoyancy gradient and B0 the constant surface buoyancy flux. The end.h5 files in each directory contain a 3D snapshot of all simulation variables at the end of each run. movie.h5 contains a timeseries of 2D slices for each variable. Both files are in the HDF5 file format.The “th” variables in the movie.h5 and end.h5 file mean the following: Th1= Buoyancy (m/s^2), Th2= slip velocity, w_s=0 (mm/s), Th3= slip velocity, w_s=0.05 (mm/s), Th4= slip velocity, w_s=0.5 (mm/s), Th5 = w_s=5 (mm/s), nu_t is the subgrid_scale viscosity from the LES and P is the pressure Horizontally averaged statistics can be obtained from mean*.txt, while volume-averaged statistics are in stats.txt. The post_process directory contains Matlab/Octave scripts for reading these files. mean*.txt contains horizontal averages of the resolved flow variables mean_th*.txt contains horizontal averages of terms involving tracers mean_les*.txt contains horizontal averages of diagnostics from the subgrid-scale model. The 1,2,3,4 labels indicate which MPI slab the data came from - these are recombined in the Matlab scripts. The snapshots were saved every N_SAVE_STATS timesteps, where that variable is defined in input.dat

Individual Files: