Articles | Volume 19, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9627-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9627-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Towards high-fidelity simulations of coastal submesoscale baroclinic instabilities with MPAS–O (vE3SM3.0.0) – Part 2: Realistic experiments
Dylan R. Schlichting
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Katherine M. Smith
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Mark R. Petersen
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Robert D. Hetland
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Kyle E. Hinson
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Darren Engwirda
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australia
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Short summary
River plumes can strongly influence coastal dynamics but are poorly resolved in global ocean models. Building on a companion study, we perform high-resolution simulations of the Mississippi–Atchafalaya (M–A) plume with the Model for Prediction Across Scales–Ocean (MPAS–O), a global model, and compare with a limited-domain Regional Ocean Modeling System configuration. MPAS–O qualitatively captures the M–A plume seasonality but fails to generate realistic eddies on the Texas–Louisiana shelf.
River plumes can strongly influence coastal dynamics but are poorly resolved in global ocean...