Abstract / Résumé

The ocean engine of NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) is a primitive equation model adapted to regional and global ocean circulation problems. It is intended to be a flexible tool for studying the ocean and its interactions with the others components of the earth climate system over a wide range of space and time scales. Prognostic variables are the three-dimensional velocity field, a non-linear sea surface height, the Conservative Temperature and the Absolute Salinity. In the horizontal direction, the model uses a curvilinear orthogonal grid and in the vertical direction, a full or partial step $z$-coordinate, or $s$-coordinate, or a mixture of the two. The distribution of variables is a three-dimensional Arakawa C-type grid. Various physical choices are available to describe ocean physics, including TKE, and GLS vertical physics. Within NEMO, the ocean is interfaced with a sea-ice model (LIM or CICE), passive tracer and biogeochemical models (TOP) and, via the OASIS coupler, with several atmospheric general circulation models. It also support two-way grid embedding via the AGRIF software.