The ONR Kara Sea laboratory model benchmark
A laboratory model of the ocean circulation in the Kara Sea was built and tested for the Office of Naval Research (ONR) program ANWAP (Arctic Nuclear Waste Assessment Program) with support from the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The background is presented in McClimans et al. (1999). Here, some of the laboratory results are given in data files to be used as benchmarks for the development and validation of numerical models with normal tidal excitation and weak winds.
The benchmark data set includes the boundary conditions (topography and forced boundary flows), two sets of surface current velocities based on particle paths and selected hydrographic sections of salinity and tracer, together with a table of the sampling locations. The laboratory model simulated the best estimate of conditions from 1991 to 1995.
In the study, the fluorescent tracer Rhodamine was discharged in the coastal water in the Barents/Pechora Sea in May, 1993 and followed through the model sea until the end of 1995. The data in this benchmark are made available by ONR through Grant N00014-99-1-O844.
Reference:
McClimans, T.A., Johnson, D.R., Krosshavn, M., King, S.E., Carroll, Jo-L. and Grenness, Ø. (2000) Transport processes in the Kara Sea, J. Geophys. Res. 105: 14,121-14,139.