1.2.9 Simulations of laboratory experiments

Figure 1.13 shows MITgcm being used to simulate a laboratory experiment inquiring into the dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). An initially homogeneous tank of water ( in diameter) is driven from its free surface by a rotating heated disk. The combined action of mechanical and thermal forcing creates a lens of fluid which becomes baroclinically unstable. The stratification and depth of penetration of the lens is arrested by its instability in a process analogous to that which sets the stratification of the ACC.

Figure 1.13: A numerical simulation (left) of a 1m diameter laboratory experiment (right) using MITgcm.

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