On the role of vertical resolution for resolving mesoscale eddy dynamics and the prediction of ocean sound speed variability

Richard X Touret; Guangpeng Liu; Matthew McKinley; Annalisa Bracco; Karim G Sabra

doi:10.1121/10.0022166

On the role of vertical resolution for resolving mesoscale eddy dynamics and the prediction of ocean sound speed variability

JASA Express Lett. 2023 Nov 1;3(11):116002. doi: 10.1121/10.0022166.

Authors

Richard X Touret^{1

2

3}, Guangpeng Liu^{2

4}, Matthew McKinley³, Annalisa Bracco^{1

2}, Karim G Sabra^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Program in Ocean Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
² School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
³ School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
⁴ Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii 96822, USArtouret@gatech.edu, gliu87@hawaii.edu, mmckinley31@gatech.edu, abracco@gatech.edu, ksabra3@gatech.edu.

PMID: 37962475
DOI: 10.1121/10.0022166

Abstract

This work investigates how vertical resolution affects the prediction of ocean sound speed through a suite of regional simulations covering the DeSoto Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico. Simulations have identical horizontal resolution of 0.5 km, partially resolving submesoscale dynamics, and vertical resolution from 30 to 200 terrain-following layers. The focus is on mesoscale eddies and how modeled sound speeds vary whenever more vertical baroclinic modes are resolved. While domain-averaged sound speed profiles do not differ substantively, the standard deviation increases for increasing resolution due to the sharper representation of mesoscale circulations underneath the mixed layer and their associated density anomalies.