2004 LOM Workshop

Tuesday 10:20 - 11:30 a.m. Poster Session

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Using Earth Rotation Data to Test Ocean Models

Richard Gross
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Richard.Gross@jpl.nasa.gov

ABSTRACT

Angular momentum is a fundamental conserved property of dynamical systems. It is an integrated measure of mass motion and redistribution and as such can be used to diagnose the oceans' changing general circulation. Furthermore, the angular momentum of the oceans is exchanged with that of the solid Earth causing the Earth's rotation to change. In fact, a number of studies have recently shown the importance of oceanic processes in causing Earth rotation changes, particularly in exciting polar motion, which is the motion of the rotation pole with respect to the Earth's crust. Because of this demonstrated importance of oceanic processes in exciting polar motion, polar motion observations have the potential to be used as a novel means of testing ocean models. This potential is illustrated here by computing the angular momentum from runs of two different ocean models, the MOM and MICOM models. Comparing the oceanic angular momentum from these runs to polar motion excitation observations from which atmospheric effects have been removed shows that the results from MICOM are in much better agreement with the observations than are the results from MOM.

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LOM Users' Workshop, February 9-11, 2004