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A two-dimensional non-hydrostatic ocean model and a hydrostatic version of the same modelare used to simulate convective adjustment, without the use of an instantaneous adjustmentparameterization. The model geometry is a domain on the vertical plane of width 40 km anddepth 500 m. Model results for four cases are examined: hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic, at0.1 and 1 km spatial resolution. The convectively adjusted stable state obtained in all four casesare qualitatively similar; thus the hydrostatic approximation does not eliminate convectiveadjustment. The details of the simulated convective plumes depend on resolution and whetherthe hydrostatic approximation is made. The adjusted state has significant stratification whichcannot be captured by the conventional instantaneous adjustment or diffusion-based parameterizations.We also compare the results to the case when an instantaneous adjustmentparameterization is used. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0870.2002.00162.x

The coupled DieCAST-SSBOM (Shirshov-Stony Brook Oil spill transport Model) circulation-oil spill transport model is used to predict the transport and dispersal of contaminants resulting from representative hypothetical oil spills in the Black Sea. With climatological forcing, the DieCAST model realistically simulates many of the dominant mesoscale features of seasonally-varying large scale circulation and meso-scale features of the circulation including the Rim Current, anticyclonic coastal eddies, headland eddy shedding and vertical stratification. The oil spill model ingests DieCAST surface currents and employs a Lagrangian tracking algorithm to predict the motion of a large number of seeded particles, the sum of which (~1 million) form the oil plume. Basic processes affecting the transport of oil and its fate (advection, sinking, evaporation, etc.) are included as parameters. Various scenarios of hypothetical blowouts of oil in different regions of the sea are simulated and discussed as to their structure, transport and likelihood of coastal contamination. The ultimate objective is to develop an operational oil slick model forced with synoptic winds and air-sea interaction.

An ocean response to typhoon Kai-Tak is simulated using an accurate fourth-order, basin-scale ocean model. The surface winds of typhoon Kai-Tak were obtained from QuikSCAT satellite images blended with the ECMWF wind fields. An intense nonlinear mesoscale eddy is generated in the northeast South China Sea (SCS) with a Rossby number of O (1) and on a 50-100 km horizontal scale. Inertial oscillation is clearly observed. Advection dominates as a strong wind shear drives the mixed layer flows outward, away from the typhoon center, thus forcing upwelling from deep levels with a high upwelling velocity (＞ 30m day^(-1)). A drop in sea surface temperature (SST) of more than 9℃ is found in both observation and simulation. We attribute this significant SST drop to the influence of the slow moving typhoon, initial stratification and bathymetry-induced upwelling in the northeast of the SCS where the typhoon hovered.