Simulating sea ice kinematics and polar ocean processes in a diabatic version of the NeverWorld2 case with Ocean Model with Adaptive REsolution (OMARE; version 1.0)

Abstract

Sea ice plays a vital role in modulating air-sea interactions in the Southern Oceans. Accurate simulation of sea ice and its coupling with the ocean usually requires high-resolution models that can resolve the ocean turbulence and multi-scale sea ice deformations. In this study, we apply the Ocean Modeling with Adaptive REsolution (OMARE; version 1.0) to an idealized case for the Atlantic basin, focusing its Southern Ocean branch. The case is modified from NeverWorld2 to include diabatic and sea ice processes under seasonally changing forcings. Through adaptive refinement in OMARE, the model performs locally refined simulations for the ice-covered region from the base resolution of 0.5◦ to 0.1◦ . As a result, the model effectively captures seasonally changing sea ice coverage, as well as fine-scale sea ice and ocean processes. In particular, the model reproduces multi-fractal sea ice deformations and linear kinematic features and the ocean’s mesoscale at 0.1◦ , which are not resolved at 0.5◦ . Moreover, we simulate the seasonal transition of sea ice kinematics between the regime with compact plastic faults and that of free-drift. Collaterally, because of the dynamic coupling with the sea ice, there are stronger (weaker) kinetics and deformations on the ocean surface with the seasonal onset and thickening (thinning and offset) of the sea ice cover. This study highlights the potential of adaptive refinement in modeling of sea ice kinematics and ice-ocean interactions. Future work of using OMARE to the study of sea ice rheology and coupled processes at submesoscale-capable resolutions is also discussed.