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Estimates of bottom flows and bottom boundary layer dissipation of the oceanic general circulation from global high-resolution models
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Westwood High School, Austin, Texas, USA
Planning Systems, Inc., Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, USA
This paper (1) compares the bottom flows of three existing high-resolution global simulations of the oceanic general circulation
to near-bottom flows in a current meter database and (2) estimates, from the simulations, the global energy dissipation rate
of the general circulation by quadratic bottom boundary layer drag. The study utilizes a data-assimilative run of the Naval
Research Laboratory Layered Ocean Model (NLOM), a nonassimilative run of NLOM, and a nonassimilative run of the Parallel Ocean
Program z-level ocean model. Generally speaking, the simulations have some difficulty matching the flows in individual current
meter records. However, averages of model values of 
(the time average of the cube of bottom velocity, which is proportional to the dissipation rate) computed over all the current
meter sites agree to within a factor of 2.7 or better with averages computed from the current meters, at least in certain
depth ranges. The models therefore likely provide reasonable order-of-magnitude estimates of areally integrated dissipation
by bottom drag. Global dissipation rates range from 0.14 to 0.65 TW, suggesting that bottom drag represents a substantial
sink of the ∼1 TW wind-power transformed into geostrophic motions.
Received 7 August 2008; accepted 30 December 2008; published 27 February 2009.
Citation: (2009), Estimates of bottom flows and bottom boundary layer dissipation of the oceanic general circulation from global high-resolution models, J. Geophys. Res., 114, C02024, doi:10.1029/2008JC005072.
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