Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-689-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-689-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Jarzynski equality and Crooks relation for local models of air–sea interaction
LEGI, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Florian Lemarié
LJK, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inria, CNRS, Grenoble INP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Related authors
Sofia Flora, Laura Ursella, and Achim Wirth
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4685–4712, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4685-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4685-2025, 2025
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We developed a hierarchy of idealized deterministic–stochastic models to simulate sea surface currents in the Gulf of Trieste. They include tide- and wind-driven sea surface current components, resolving the slowly varying part of the flow, and a stochastic signal, representing the fast-varying small-scale dynamics. The comparison with high-frequency radar observations shows that the non-Gaussian stochastic model captures key dynamics and mimics the observed fat-tailed probability distribution.
Achim Wirth
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 261–280, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-261-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-261-2025, 2025
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The hydrostatic approximation is the basis of most simulations of ocean and climate dynamics. It is evaluated here by using a projection method in the 4D Fourier space. The evaluation is analytic.
Felipe L. L. Amorim, Julien Le Meur, Achim Wirth, and Vanessa Cardin
Ocean Sci., 20, 463–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, 2024
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Analysis of a high-frequency time series of thermohaline data measured at the EMSO-E2M3A regional facility in the southern Adriatic Pit (SAP) reveals a significant change in the double-diffusive regime in 2017 associated with the intrusion of extremely salty waters into the area, suggesting salt fingering as the dominant regime. The strong heat loss at the surface during this winter allowed deep convection to transport this high-salinity water from the intermediate to deep layers of the pit.
Sofia Flora, Laura Ursella, and Achim Wirth
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 515–525, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-515-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-515-2023, 2023
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An increasing amount of data allows us to move from low-order moments of fluctuating observations to their PDFs. We found the analytical fat-tailed PDF form (a combination of Gaussian and two-exponential convolutions) for 2 years of sea surface current increments in the Gulf of Trieste, using superstatistics and the maximum-entropy principle twice: on short and longer timescales. The data from different wind regimes follow the same analytical PDF, pointing towards a universal behaviour.
Achim Wirth and Bertrand Chapron
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 371–378, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-371-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-371-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, which describes forced-dissipative systems such as air–sea interaction, there is no universal probability density function (pdf). Some such systems have recently been demonstrated to exhibit a symmetry called a fluctuation theorem (FT), which strongly constrains the shape of the pdf. Using satellite data, the mechanical power input to the ocean by air–sea interaction following or not a FT is questioned. A FT is found to apply over specific ocean regions.
Sofia Flora, Laura Ursella, and Achim Wirth
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4685–4712, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4685-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4685-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a hierarchy of idealized deterministic–stochastic models to simulate sea surface currents in the Gulf of Trieste. They include tide- and wind-driven sea surface current components, resolving the slowly varying part of the flow, and a stochastic signal, representing the fast-varying small-scale dynamics. The comparison with high-frequency radar observations shows that the non-Gaussian stochastic model captures key dynamics and mimics the observed fat-tailed probability distribution.
Achim Wirth
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 261–280, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-261-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-261-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The hydrostatic approximation is the basis of most simulations of ocean and climate dynamics. It is evaluated here by using a projection method in the 4D Fourier space. The evaluation is analytic.
Valentina Schüller, Florian Lemarié, Philipp Birken, and Eric Blayo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1342, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1342, 2025
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Earth system models consist of many components, coupled in time and space. Standard coupling algorithms introduce a numerical error, which one can compute with iterative coupling methods. We use such a method for the EC-Earth AOSCM, which models a single vertical column of the atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice. We find that coupling errors in the atmosphere and at the ice surface can be substantial and that discontinuous physics parameterizations lead to convergence issues of the iteration.
Felipe L. L. Amorim, Julien Le Meur, Achim Wirth, and Vanessa Cardin
Ocean Sci., 20, 463–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Analysis of a high-frequency time series of thermohaline data measured at the EMSO-E2M3A regional facility in the southern Adriatic Pit (SAP) reveals a significant change in the double-diffusive regime in 2017 associated with the intrusion of extremely salty waters into the area, suggesting salt fingering as the dominant regime. The strong heat loss at the surface during this winter allowed deep convection to transport this high-salinity water from the intermediate to deep layers of the pit.
Sofia Flora, Laura Ursella, and Achim Wirth
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 515–525, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-515-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-515-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
An increasing amount of data allows us to move from low-order moments of fluctuating observations to their PDFs. We found the analytical fat-tailed PDF form (a combination of Gaussian and two-exponential convolutions) for 2 years of sea surface current increments in the Gulf of Trieste, using superstatistics and the maximum-entropy principle twice: on short and longer timescales. The data from different wind regimes follow the same analytical PDF, pointing towards a universal behaviour.
Nicholas K.-R. Kevlahan and Florian Lemarié
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6521–6539, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6521-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6521-2022, 2022
Short summary
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WAVETRISK-2.1 is an innovative climate model for the world's oceans. It uses state-of-the-art techniques to change the model's resolution locally, from O(100 km) to O(5 km), as the ocean changes. This dynamic adaptivity makes optimal use of available supercomputer resources, and allows two-dimensional global scales and three-dimensional submesoscales to be captured in the same simulation. WAVETRISK-2.1 is designed to be coupled its companion global atmosphere model, WAVETRISK-1.x.
Achim Wirth and Bertrand Chapron
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 371–378, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-371-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-371-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, which describes forced-dissipative systems such as air–sea interaction, there is no universal probability density function (pdf). Some such systems have recently been demonstrated to exhibit a symmetry called a fluctuation theorem (FT), which strongly constrains the shape of the pdf. Using satellite data, the mechanical power input to the ocean by air–sea interaction following or not a FT is questioned. A FT is found to apply over specific ocean regions.
Olivier Marti, Sébastien Nguyen, Pascale Braconnot, Sophie Valcke, Florian Lemarié, and Eric Blayo
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 2959–2975, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2959-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2959-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
State-of-the-art Earth system models, like the ones used in CMIP6, suffer from temporal inconsistencies at the ocean–atmosphere interface. In this study, a mathematically consistent iterative Schwarz method is used as a reference. Its tremendous computational cost makes it unusable for production runs, but it allows us to evaluate the error made when using legacy coupling schemes. The impact on the climate at longer timescales of days to decades is not evaluated.
Florian Lemarié, Guillaume Samson, Jean-Luc Redelsperger, Hervé Giordani, Théo Brivoal, and Gurvan Madec
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 543–572, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-543-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-543-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A simplified model of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) of intermediate complexity between a bulk parameterization and a full three-dimensional atmospheric model has been developed and integrated to the NEMO ocean model.
An objective in the derivation of such a simplified model is to reach an apt representation of ocean-only numerical simulations of some of the key processes associated with air–sea interactions at the characteristic scales of the oceanic mesoscale.
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Short summary
We show that modern concepts of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics can be applied to large-scale environmental fluid dynamics, where fluctuations are not thermal but come from turbulence. The work theorems developed by Jarzynski and Crooks are applied to air–sea interaction. Rather than looking at the average values of thermodynamic variables, their probability density functions are considered, which allows us to replace the inequalities of equilibrium statistical mechanics with equalities.
We show that modern concepts of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics can be applied to...
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