1 / 22

THOR

THOR. Presented by Doug Smith (MET OFFICE) Project coordinator: Detlef Quadfasel (UHAM) www.eu-thor.eu THOR.EU@zmaw.de. 3000 km. < 1000 km. Arctic Ice Cover during Winter. Winter ice boundaries. ~ 40 Mio. ~ 4 Mio. ~ 400 Mio. Population in the North. Seasonal Ice Cover. ?.

susan
Download Presentation

THOR

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. THOR Presented by Doug Smith (MET OFFICE) Project coordinator: Detlef Quadfasel (UHAM) www.eu-thor.eu THOR.EU@zmaw.de

  2. 3000 km < 1000 km Arctic Ice Cover during Winter Winter ice boundaries

  3. ~ 40 Mio ~ 4 Mio ~ 400 Mio Population in the North

  4. Seasonal Ice Cover

  5. ? Decadal Variability - Trends

  6. Ocean Circulation carries Heat to the North … and returns fresh water south Shallow Circulation Deep Circulation

  7. North Atlantic Thermohaline Ocean Circulation and its Impact on Climate: Thermohaline Overturning – at Risk ?

  8. Facts and Figures • FP 7 Collaborative Project – Large Scale • Project lifetime: 4 years, December 2008 – November 2012 • Research focus: Stability of the ThermoHaline Circulation • Participants: 20 participating institutions from 9 European countries • 5 Core Themes, 12 Work Packages • Project cost: 12.95 million Euro • EU Funding: 9.27 million Euro

  9. What is it all about? THOR and its 5 core themes Core Theme 1MOC Variability Core Theme 5Technological Advancements Core Theme 2Model Uncertainty Core Theme 4Prediction & Predictability Core Theme 3 Observations NADW – North Atlantic Deep Water 1 Sv = 106 m3/s

  10. Project Structure Governing Board (GB) Scientific Steering and Executive Committee (SSEC) Project Management and Coordination (UHAM) International Advisory Panel Gender Panel CT 1: Quantifying and modelling THC variability using palaeoclimate observations and simulations (MPI-M, MetO, UPMC, UiB, IFM-GEOMAR, NERSC, CNRS) CT 2: Assessing sources of uncertainty in ocean analyses and forecasts(DMI, MPI-M, MetO, UPMC, UiB, IFM-GEOMAR, NERSC) CT 3: Observations of the North Atlantic THC(UiB, UHAM, IFM-GEOMAR, HAV, MRI, NIOZ, NERC, SAMS, MPI-M) CT 4: Predictability of the Meridional Overturning Circulation(KNMI, MPI-M, MetO, ECMWF, UREAD, IFM-GEOMAR) CT 5: Technological Advancements for Improved near-real-time data transmission and Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Data Assimilation (IFM-GEOMAR, UHAM, UiB, NERC, ECMWF, KNMI)

  11. Analysis of Millennium-scale numerical experiments and paleo-records Core Theme 1: Understanding Variability Atlantic inflow into the Nordic Seas The observations and the model simulation show predominantly multidecadal-scale variability and a similar long-term evolution Otterå, Bentsen, Drange & Suo, 2010

  12. The figure shows how the vigor of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) (, in red) (Mjell et al. in prep) and basin wide temperature (AMO in blue, after Gray et al., 2004) have co-varied over the past 400 years. Core Theme 1: On-going Work i.e. Relation between newly observed overflow strength and the basin-wide temperature changes:

  13. i.e. melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, impact on the Ocean fresh water – salinity distribution after 30 years Input of 0.1 Sv around Greenland east & west east only west only Biastoch, 2010 Core Theme 2: Assessing Model Uncertainties Ocean reanalyses and observations, sensitivity experiments

  14. Core Theme 2: On-going Work Passive tracer release along the coast of Greenland After 3.5 years Working hypothesis: The effect of additional runoff on the convective activity in the interior Labrador Sea is weaker in models which resolves eddies. Coarser resolution models applying parameterizations which tend to cap the area with freshwater from the sides

  15. Core Theme 2: On-going Work Collapse of convection in the LS The coarse simulation is less effected by additional freshwater due to lower initial overturning and lack of initial deep convection in the Labrador Sea

  16. Transport data sets Hydrography data sets Datasets regularly updated, accessible through project homepage Volume transport of DSOW and EGC at Denmark Strait sill section (1995-2011); D. Quadfasel (IFM-UHAM) Volume and heat fluxes of Atlantic waters at Hornbanki section (1994-2009); S. Jónsson (MRI) Core Theme 3: Observing the AMOC Heat content of central Labrador Sea from K1 T time series (1997-2009); J. Fischer (IFM-GEOMAR) Volume transport of DSOW from Angmag-ssalik array and T,S time series (1994-2009); D. Quadfasel (IFM-UHAM), S. Dye (CEFAS) Volume transport for deep western boundary current at the exit of the Labrador Sea (1997-2009); J. Fischer (IFM-GEOMAR) Volume fluxes of FBC overflow (1995-2010), IFR inflow (1997-2010) and CTD standard sections; B. Hansen (FFL) Volume fluxes of inflow of Atlantic waters in FSC (1994-2008), overflows at FSC and WTR (2003-2008) and CTD standard sections ; T. Sherwin (SAMS) Volume fluxes of MOC and mooring profiles of T,S at 26.50N (2004 - ongoing); S. Cunningham (NOCS/NERC) Volume fluxes and T,S time series for Central Irminger Sea (2002-2009); J. Fischer and J. Karstensen (IFM-GEOMAR) Volume fluxes in the Irminger Sea and CTD sections Between Greenland and Ireland (2003-2008); H. van Aken (NIOZ)

  17. Data + Model = Synthesis Core Theme 4: Prediction and Predictability Forecasts Hindcasts – ocean only initialisation Köhl pers. con. 2010 PREDICATE: Sutton, 2004

  18. Core Theme 4: On-going work – your input?

  19. Core Theme 5: Technological Advancements Real true data transmission from moorings: the Bergen and Kiel system Data assimilation in coupled models: THOR

  20. Core Theme 5: On-going 1. Real true data transmission from moorings The Bergen System (accomplished)

  21. Core Theme 5: On-going 1. Real true data transmission from moorings The Kiel System (testing)

  22. Core Theme 5: On-going 2. Data assimilation in THOR coupled model • coupling: replacement of seaice- and ocean- compartments of the PlanetSimulator by MITogcm plus seaice • configuration: coarse resolution setup with an atmosphere on a T21 grid and 5 sigma levels, and the MITogcm on a 5.625º grid having the North Pole shifted to Greenland, using 15 vertical levels • testing: coupled system with single CPU on a notebook, performance is approx. 30 model years/day

More Related