1.2 Illustrations of the model in action

The MITgcm has been designed and used to model a wide range of phenomena, from convection on the scale of meters in the ocean to the global pattern of atmospheric winds - see figure 1.2. To give a flavor of the kinds of problems the model has been used to study, we briefly describe some of them here. A more detailed description of the underlying formulation, numerical algorithm and implementation that lie behind these calculations is given later. Indeed many of the illustrative examples shown below can be easily reproduced: simply download the model (the minimum you need is a PC running Linux, together with a FORTRAN 77 compiler) and follow the examples described in detail in the documentation.

• 1.2.1 Global atmosphere: `Held-Suarez' benchmark
• 1.2.2 Ocean gyres
• 1.2.3 Global ocean circulation
• 1.2.4 Convection and mixing over topography
• 1.2.5 Boundary forced internal waves
• 1.2.6 Parameter sensitivity using the adjoint of MITgcm
• 1.2.7 Global state estimation of the ocean
• 1.2.8 Ocean biogeochemical cycles
• 1.2.9 Simulations of laboratory experiments

Copyright © 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology