Self-attraction and loading feedback on ocean dynamics in both shallow water equations and primitive equations. (January 2022) - Shihora, Linus
Abstract: We introduce the effects of self-attraction and loading (SAL) to the momentum equations of a barotropic global ocean tide model as well as a baroclinic general circulation model. We show for the M 2 tidal dynamics, that an explicit treatment of SAL is favourable compared to a scalar approximation or even disregarding the effects all together. For the general circulation the influence on the ocean bottom pressure is shown to be about 1 hPa for short time periods along the coasts and about 0.5 hPa for longer periods in resonant basins in the southern ocean. In contrast to previous studies, we additionally examine the effects of surface pressure anomalies over the continents in the computation of SAL which is shown to have an influence of about 0.5 hPa along the coasts. With those results, we demonstrate that the explicit treatment of SAL is important for satellite applications. Highlights: Self-attraction and loading (SAL) is crucial for the accurate simulation of ocean tides. SAL alters bottom pressure variability from the general circulation by up to 1 hPa. Surface pressure at continents impacts coastal bottom pressure by 0.5 hPa. Impact of SAL on general circulation is found to be important for satellite applications.