--- MITgcm_contrib/articles/ceaice/ceaice_intro.tex 2008/03/04 20:31:31 1.3 +++ MITgcm_contrib/articles/ceaice/ceaice_intro.tex 2008/07/18 19:09:20 1.7 @@ -1,68 +1,72 @@ \section{Introduction} \label{sec:intro} -In the past five years, oceanographic state estimation has matured to the -extent that estimates of the evolving circulation of the ocean constrained by -in-situ and remotely sensed global observations are now routinely available -and being applied to myriad scientific problems \citep{wun07}. Ocean state -estimation is the process of fitting an ocean general circulation model (GCM) -to a multitude of observations. As formulated by the consortium Estimating -the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), an automatic differentiation -tool is used to calculate the so-called adjoint code of a GCM. The method of -Lagrange multipliers is then used to render the problem one of unconstrained -least-squares minimization. Although much has been achieved, the existing -ECCO estimates lack intercative sea ice. This limits the ability of ECCO to -utilize satellite data constraints over sea-ice covered regions. This also -limits the usefulness of the ECCO ocean state estimates for describing and -studying polar-subpolar interactions. - -The availability of an adjoint model as a powerful research tool -complementary to an ocean model was a major design requirement early -on in the development of the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) -[Marshall et al. 1997a, Marotzke et al. 1999, Adcroft et al. 2002]. It -was recognized that the adjoint model permitted computing the -gradients of various scalar-valued model diagnostics, norms or, -generally, objective functions with respect to external or independent -parameters very efficiently. The information associtated with these -gradients is useful in at least two major contexts. First, for state -estimation problems, the objective function is the sum of squared -differences between observations and model results weighted by the -inverse error covariances. The gradient of such an objective function -can be used to reduce this measure of model-data misfit to find the -optimal model solution in a least-squares sense. Second, the -objective function can be a key oceanographic quantity such as -meridional heat or volume transport, ocean heat content or mean -surface temperature index. In this case the gradient provides a -complete set of sensitivities of this quantity to all independent -variables simultaneously. These sensitivities can be used to address -the cause of, say, changing net transports accurately. - -References to existing sea-ice adjoint models, explaining that they are either -for simplified configurations, for ice-only studies, or for short-duration -studies to motivate the present work. +In recent years, ocean state estimation has matured to the extent that +estimates of the time-evolving ocean circulation, constrained by a multitude +of in-situ and remotely sensed global observations, are now routinely +available and being applied to myriad scientific problems \citep[and +references therein]{wun07}. As formulated by the consortium for Estimating +the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), least-squares methods, i.e., +filter/smoother \citep{fuk02}, Green's functions \citep{men05}, and adjoint +\citep{sta02a}, are used to fit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology +general circulation model +\citep[MITgcm;][]{marshall97:_finit_volum_incom_navier_stokes} to the +available data. Much has been achieved but the existing ECCO estimates lack +interactive sea ice. This limits the ability to utilize satellite data +constraints over sea-ice covered regions. This also limits the usefulness of +the derived ocean state estimates for describing and studying polar-subpolar +interactions. This paper is a first step towards adding sea-ice capability to +the ECCO estimates. That is, we describe a dynamic and thermodynamic sea ice +model that has been coupled to the MITgcm and that has been modified to permit +efficient and accurate forward integration and automatic differentiation. + +Although the ECCO2 optimization problem can be expressed succinctly in +algebra, its numerical implementation for planetary scale problems is +enormously demanding. First, multiple forward integrations are required to +derive approximate filter/smoothers and to compute model Green's functions. +Second, the derivation of the adjoint model, even with the availability of +automatic differentiation tools, is a challenging technical task, which +requires reformulation of some of the model physics to insure +differentiability and the addition of numerous adjoint compiler directives to +improve efficiency \citep{marotzke99}. The MITgcm adjoint typically requires +5--10 times more computations and 10--100 times more storage than the forward +model. Third, every evaluation of the cost function entails a full forward +integration of the assimilation model and multiple forwards (and adjoint for +the adjoint method) iterations are required to achieve satisfactorily +converged solutions. Finally, evaluating the cost function also requires +estimating the error statistics associated with unresolved physics in the +model and with incompatibilities between observed quantities and numerical +model variables. These statistics are obtained from simulations at even +higher resolutions than the assimilation model. For all the above reasons, it +was decided early on that the MITgcm sea ice model would be tightly coupled +with the ocean component as opposed to loosely coupled via a flux coupler. + + Traditionally, probably for historical reasons and the ease of treating the Coriolis term, most standard sea-ice models are discretized on Arakawa-B-grids \citep[e.g.,][]{hibler79, harder99, - kreyscher00, zhang98, hunke97}\ml{, although there are sea ice only - models diretized on a C-grid \citep[e.g.,][]{tremblay97, - lemieux09}}. From the perspective of coupling a sea ice-model to a -C-grid ocean model, the exchange of fluxes of heat and fresh-water -pose no difficulty for a B-grid sea-ice model -\citep[e.g.,][]{timmermann02a}. However, surface stress is defined at -velocities points and thus needs to be interpolated between a B-grid -sea-ice model and a C-grid ocean model. Smoothing implicitly -associated with this interpolation may mask grid scale noise and may -contribute to stabilizing the solution. On the other hand, by -smoothing the stress signals are damped which could lead to reduced -variability of the system. By choosing a C-grid for the sea-ice model, -we circumvent this difficulty altogether and render the stress -coupling as consistent as the buoyancy coupling. + kreyscher00, zhang98, hunke97}, although there are sea ice models +diretized on a C-grid \citep[e.g.,][]{ip91, tremblay97, + lemieux09}. % +\ml{[there is also MI-IM, but I only found this as a reference: + \url{http://retro.met.no/english/r_and_d_activities/method/num_mod/MI-IM-Documentation.pdf}]} +From the perspective of coupling a sea ice-model to a C-grid ocean +model, the exchange of fluxes of heat and fresh-water pose no +difficulty for a B-grid sea-ice model \citep[e.g.,][]{timmermann02a}. +However, surface stress is defined at velocities points and thus needs +to be interpolated between a B-grid sea-ice model and a C-grid ocean +model. Smoothing implicitly associated with this interpolation may +mask grid scale noise and may contribute to stabilizing the solution. +On the other hand, by smoothing the stress signals are damped which +could lead to reduced variability of the system. By choosing a C-grid +for the sea-ice model, we circumvent this difficulty altogether and +render the stress coupling as consistent as the buoyancy coupling. A further advantage of the C-grid formulation is apparent in narrow straits. In the limit of only one grid cell between coasts there is no flux allowed for a B-grid (with no-slip lateral boundary counditions), -and models have used topographies artificially widened straits to +and models have used topographies with artificially widened straits to avoid this problem \citep{holloway07}. The C-grid formulation on the other hand allows a flux of sea-ice through narrow passages if free-slip along the boundaries is allowed. We demonstrate this effect @@ -71,11 +75,12 @@ Talk about problems that make the sea-ice-ocean code very sensitive and changes in the code that reduce these sensitivities. -This paper describes the MITgcm sea ice -model; it presents example Arctic and Antarctic results from a realistic, -eddy-permitting, global ocean and sea-ice configuration; it compares B-grid -and C-grid dynamic solvers in a regional Arctic configuration; and it presents -example results from coupled ocean and sea-ice adjoint-model integrations. +This paper describes the MITgcm sea ice model; it presents example +Arctic and Antarctic results from a realistic, eddy-permitting, global +ocean and sea-ice configuration; it compares B-grid and C-grid dynamic +solvers and investigates further aspects of sea ice modeling in a +regional Arctic configuration; and it presents example results from +coupled ocean and sea-ice adjoint-model integrations. %%% Local Variables: %%% mode: latex