Heat Budgets#
This page outlines the pertinent files and methodology to compute a heat budget using output from an MITgcm model.
Required Fields#
The following fields are required for the heat budget:
Field |
Variable Name |
Units |
|---|---|---|
Zonal Advective Flux of Potential Temperature |
ADVx_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Meridional Advective Flux of Potential Temperature |
ADVy_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Vertical Advective Flux of Potential Temperature |
ADVr_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Zonal Diffusive Flux of Potential Temperature |
DFxE_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Meridional Diffusive Flux of Pot.Temperature |
DFyE_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Vertical Diffusive Flux of Pot.Temperature (Explicit part) |
DFrE_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Vertical Diffusive Flux of Pot.Temperature (Implicit part) |
DFrI_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Net short-wave radiation |
oceQsw |
W / m\(^2\) |
Vertical mass-weighted transport of Potential Temperature |
WTHMASS |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Total surface heat flux |
TFLUX |
W / m\(^2\) |
Vertical Diffusive Flux (KPP Scheme) |
KPPg_TH |
C\(^{\circ}\) m\(^3\)/s |
Note that the KPPg_TH variable is only required when using the kpp package.
Note
If implicitDiffusion=.TRUE., then the diffusive flux terms DFxE_TH, DFyE_TH, and DFrE_TH are not required to close the budget.
Suggested Diagnostics Organization#
The following entries to the data.diagnostics file would yield the terms above.
#---
frequency(1) = 86400.0,
fields(1:3,1) = 'ADVx_TH ','ADVy_TH ','ADVr_TH ',
filename(1) = 'diags/heat_flux_adv/heat_flux_adv',
#---
frequency(2) = 86400.0,
fields(1:5,2) = 'DFxE_TH ','DFyE_TH ','DFrE_TH ','DFrI_TH ','KPPg_TH ',
filename(2) = 'diags/heat_flux_diff/heat_flux_diff',
#---
frequency(3) = 86400.0,
fields(1:3,3) = 'oceQsw ','WTHMASS ','TFLUX ',
filename(3) = 'diags/heat_flux_surf/heat_flux_surf',
levels(:,3) = 1,