Where the Med. and Atlantic Meet

For our first research story of 2013 we take a look at work by longtime MITgcm user Gianmaria Sannino modeling different aspects of the Mediterranean circulation.

In a novel approach, MITgcmers Ian Fenty and Patrick Heimbach use optimal state and parameter estimation to improve the sea-ice simulations.

Angela Zalucha has always had a passion for weather but tantalized by the meteorology of other planetary bodies she uses MITgcm to explore the exotic atmospheres of our neighbours in the solar system and beyond, among them the recently re-defined “plutoid” Pluto.

Nuno Serra from the University of Hamburg has used MITgcm in many ocean modeling projects, both from a process-modelling perspective and “realistically”, incorporating forcing from NCEP and ECMWF. He is especially interested in the processes regulating North Atlantic and North Pacific inter-annual to inter-decadal variability. A particular passion is overflows.

This month we focus on research using MITgcm to model atmospheres on Jupiter-like exoplanets showcasing work by recent University of Arizona, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory graduate, Nikole Lewis.

In a recent paper in the Journal of Physical Oceanography, An Nguyen (MIT) and co-authors Ronald Kwok (JPL) and Dimitris Menemenlis (JPL) report on work using MITgcm to better understand the origin and character of  the western arctic, upper halocline.

At this time of the year newspapers and magazines abound with suggestions for things to read on vacation. MITgcm recommends popping copies of the following recent papers in your beach bag, after all, there’s more than one way to study the ocean!

In this video, Mick Follows describes his group’s work using MITgcm and ECCO2 products to better understand the global carbon cycle and plankton populations.

In a new paper published in the Annals of Glaciology, long-time MITgcm users Patrick Heimbach and Martic Losch investigate the sensitivity of sub-ice-shelf melt rates under the Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, to changes in the oceanic state.