A numerical simulation of the East Asian Seas in March 2002: Effect of vertical grid choice

The sensitivity of vertical grid choice in the hybrid Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) is discussed for the Yellow Sea, East Asian Sea, Japan/East Sea domain. In particular, the logarithmically stretched hybrid vertical profile used operationally at the Naval Research Laboratory is compared to six variations. The variations include a full z-level run, a full sigma coordinate run, and other hybrid constructs that modify the hybrid’s transitions depth or the structure of the operational grid. The results are compared to each other and some limited observations in the framework of setting up a rapidly relocatable ocean model. The comparisons show that the operational vertical grid structure is a good first guess design for a rapidly relocatable ocean model.