Author(s): Manel Grifoll; Alan Cuthbertson; Jarle Berntsen; Maria Chiara De Falco; Claudia Adduce
Linked Author(s): Alan J S Cuthbertson, Claudia Adduce
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: This study presents the results of laboratory-scale numerical simulations of density-driven exchange flows generated across a submerged trapezoidal sill-channel obstruction under both non-rotating and rotating frames of reference using the Bergen Ocean Model (BOM), a three-dimensional general ocean circulation model. The results from the numerical simulations aim to simulate the large-scale experimental data obtained in the LEGI Coriolis rotating platform in Grenoble, which velocity and density fields where measured through image velocimetry (PIV) measurements and micro-conductivity density probe data from the equivalent laboratory experiments. The BOM simulations reproduce the main dynamic properties of the large-scale exchange flows through the trapezoidal channel, with the lower layer saline intrusion flux shown to reduce (i. e. due to partial blockage) as the upper freshwater flow is increased. The effect of increasing the Coriolis parameter on the exchange flow dynamics and the cross-channel flow structure is also considered.
Year: 2022