Simulating temperature and chlorophyll variability in the western english channel : An integrated observation/numerical approach
Simulating temperature and chlorophyll variability in the western english channel : An integrated observation/numerical approach
Physical/biological shelf-sea systems are controlled, to a great extent, by meteorologically and tidally forced vertical processes of heating and mixing. These processes form the basis of many simple water column models that have proven capable of realistically simulating shelf-sea temperature and chlorophyll distributions. The continued development of such models is hampered, however, by the lack of observational databases available for their validation.
This thesis compares the ability of an established water-column model (Prestidge and Taylor, 1995) to accurately simulate the observed temperature and chlorophyll distribution of a 60km by 60km study region off Plymouth, UK, over a variety of temporal and spatial scales. An integrated observational database that resolved multiple scales of variability was compiled, consisting of data collected from a variety of platforms including boat, satellite and remote buoy.
The comparison of model simulations with the observational database suggested that model performance differed strongly between scales of variability. Frequently analysis was used to reveal two scales in particular between which model performance differed; the annual waveform of temperature was significantly more accurately simulated than the diurnal waveforms of temperature, for which the amplitude response to meteorological forcing was overestimated by three-fold.
Due to the dependence on short time-scale mixing of the annual chlorophyll distribution, it was concluded that, even though the model provided a quantitatively accurate description of annual temperature distribution, its chlorophyll simulations over all scales resolved by the model were of questionable validity. The possibility that this finding extends to water-column models other than that of Prestige and Taylor (1995) cannot be discounted.
Whilst the validity of using the Prestige-Taylor model for diagnostic shelf-sea applications is questioned, the identification of its limitations over short time-scales does, however, provide a targeted focus for model development.
University of Southampton
Spooner, William H
2752cbdc-2c5a-446c-9a3f-94676e6fcbba
2002
Spooner, William H
2752cbdc-2c5a-446c-9a3f-94676e6fcbba
Spooner, William H
(2002)
Simulating temperature and chlorophyll variability in the western english channel : An integrated observation/numerical approach.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Physical/biological shelf-sea systems are controlled, to a great extent, by meteorologically and tidally forced vertical processes of heating and mixing. These processes form the basis of many simple water column models that have proven capable of realistically simulating shelf-sea temperature and chlorophyll distributions. The continued development of such models is hampered, however, by the lack of observational databases available for their validation.
This thesis compares the ability of an established water-column model (Prestidge and Taylor, 1995) to accurately simulate the observed temperature and chlorophyll distribution of a 60km by 60km study region off Plymouth, UK, over a variety of temporal and spatial scales. An integrated observational database that resolved multiple scales of variability was compiled, consisting of data collected from a variety of platforms including boat, satellite and remote buoy.
The comparison of model simulations with the observational database suggested that model performance differed strongly between scales of variability. Frequently analysis was used to reveal two scales in particular between which model performance differed; the annual waveform of temperature was significantly more accurately simulated than the diurnal waveforms of temperature, for which the amplitude response to meteorological forcing was overestimated by three-fold.
Due to the dependence on short time-scale mixing of the annual chlorophyll distribution, it was concluded that, even though the model provided a quantitatively accurate description of annual temperature distribution, its chlorophyll simulations over all scales resolved by the model were of questionable validity. The possibility that this finding extends to water-column models other than that of Prestige and Taylor (1995) cannot be discounted.
Whilst the validity of using the Prestige-Taylor model for diagnostic shelf-sea applications is questioned, the identification of its limitations over short time-scales does, however, provide a targeted focus for model development.
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Published date: 2002
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Local EPrints ID: 464699
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464699
PURE UUID: c1211679-11bc-4581-8e9c-63b9e78bd0c9
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 23:57
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:42
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William H Spooner
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