The CIOM was implemented to the whole Bering Sea with Alaska Stream included (Fig. 1). The horizontal resolution of the curvilinear orthogonal grid is 12 minutes. It varies between 10 km near the Aleutian Islands to 7.4 km in the Bering Strait. Horizontal longitude grid is 5 minutes, i.e., 9.3 km in the whole domain. There are 24 sigma-layers in the vertical. The vertical resolution is higher near the surface and the bottom for a better representation of the surface and bottom boundary layers. The model has split modes. The two-dimensional external mode uses a time step of 20 s and the three-dimensional internal mode uses time step of 600 s. The model grid extends from the deep ocean to minimum depth of 10 m on the continental shelf. Wave mixing is parameterized and tides are simulated simultaneously along with the ocean circulation and sea ice (Fig. 2).

References:

Hu, H. and J. Wang, 2006. On the ocean circulation and vertical thermohaline structures in the Bering Sea. (Submitted to J. Geophys. Res.)

Wang, J., Q. Liu and M. Jin, 2002. A User’s Guide for a Coupled Ice-Ocean Model (CIOM) in the Pan-Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. International Arctic Research Center- Frontier Research System for Global Change, Tech. Rep. 02-01, 65 pp.

Wang, J., H. Hu, and K. Mizobata, 2006. Simulating seasonal cycle of the ocean circulation and sea ice in the Bering Sea (in prep)