Ocean Mode Parameters

This page is part of the Ocean mode documentation.
Since revision r... the ocean mode has been
modularized and has an own parameter namelist.
It contains a listing of all PALM input parameters used to steer the ocean mode.
For an overview of all ocean-mode-related pages, see the ocean mode main page.

NAMELIST group name: ocean_parameters

Parameter Name	FORTRAN Type	Default Value	Explanation
bc_sa_t	C*20	'neumann'	Top boundary condition of the salinity. Allowed are the values 'dirichlet' (sa(k=nz+1) does not change during the run) and 'neumann' (sa(k=nz+1)=sa(k=nz)). When a constant salinity flux is used at the top boundary (top_salinityflux), bc_sa_t = 'neumann' must be used, because otherwise the resolved scale may contribute to the top flux so that a constant value cannot be guaranteed.
bottom_salinityflux	R	0.0	Kinematic salinity flux near the surface (in psu m/s). The respective salinity flux value is used as bottom (horizontally homogeneous) boundary condition for the salinity equation. This additionally requires that a Neumann condition must be used for the salinity, which is currently the only available condition.
salinity	L	.T.	Parameter to switch on/off the prognostic equation for salinity. You may set salinity = .FALSE. in case of ocean mixed layer studies (where the turbulent layer is shallow), in order to save computational time. In that case, a constant salinity as given by sa_surface is assumed when calculating the equation of state.
sa_surface	R	35.0	Surface salinity (in psu). This parameter assigns the value of the salinity sa at the sea surface (k=nzt). Starting from this value, the initial vertical salinity profile is constructed from the surface down to the bottom of the model (k=0) by using sa_vertical_gradient and sa_vertical_gradient_level.
sa_vertical_gradient	R(10)	10 * 0.0	Salinity gradient(s) of the initial salinity profile (in psu / 100 m). This salinity gradient holds starting from the height level defined by sa_vertical_gradient_level (precisely: for all uv levels k where zu(k) < sa_vertical_gradient_level, sa_init(k) is set: sa_init(k) = sa_init(k+1) - dzu(k+1) * sa_vertical_gradient) down to the bottom boundary or down to the next height level defined by sa_vertical_gradient_level. A total of 10 different gradients for 11 height intervals (10 intervals if sa_vertical_gradient_level(1) = 0.0) can be assigned. The surface salinity at k=nzt is assigned via sa_surface. Example: sa_vertical_gradient = 1.0, 0.5, sa_vertical_gradient_level = -500.0, -1000.0, That defines the salinity to be constant down to z = -500.0 m with a salinity given by sa_surface. For -500.0 m < z <= -1000.0 m the salinity gradient is 1.0 psu / 100 m and for z < -1000.0 m down to the bottom boundary it is 0.5 psu / 100 m (it is assumed that the assigned height levels correspond with uv levels).
sa_vertical_gradient_level	R(10)	10 * 0.0	Height level from which on the salinity gradient defined by sa_vertical_gradient is effective (in m). The height levels have to be assigned in descending order. The default values result in a constant salinity profile regardless of the values of sa_vertical_gradient (unless the bottom boundary of the model is lower than -100000.0 m). For the piecewise construction of salinity profiles see sa_vertical_gradient.
stokes_waveheight	R	0.0	...
stokes_wavelength	R	0.0	...
top_salinityflux	R	no prescribed salinityflux	Kinematic salinity flux at the top boundary, i.e. the sea surface (in psu m/s). If a value is assigned to this parameter, the internal surface heat flux array is initialized with the value of top_salinityflux as top (horizontally homogeneous) boundary condition for the salinity equation. This additionally requires that a Neumann condition must be used for the salinity (see bc_sa_t), because otherwise the resolved scale may contribute to the top flux so that a constant flux value cannot be guaranteed. Note: The application of a salinity flux at the model top additionally requires the setting of initial parameter use_top_fluxes = .T.. See also bottom_salinityflux.
wall_salinityflux	R(0:5)	6 * 0.0	Prescribed kinematic salinity flux in Psu m/s at the six topography faces: wall_salinityflux(0) top face wall_salinityflux(1) left face wall_salinityflux(2) right face wall_salinityflux(3) south face wall_salinityflux(4) north face wall_salinityflux(5) bottom face This parameter applies only in case of a non-flat topography. Prescribing wall_salinityflux additionally requires setting of bottom_salinityflux. Furthermore, please note that wall_salinityflux(0) only describes the kinematic flux at non-zero height. At zero-height (surface) the kinematic flux is given by bottom_salinityflux instead.
wave_breaking	L	.F.	...