Efficient ocean modeling using non-hydrostatic algorithms

A solution strategy for the incompressible Navier Stokes equations (INS) is outlined, which renders ocean models based on them competitive with those that assume hydrostatic balance on all scales. It is shown that non-hydrostatic models rooted in INS can be designed which, when deployed in the hydrostatic limit, require no more computational effort than models based on the hydrostatic primitive equations (HPE). But unlike HPE, the model can also be used to address convective, non-hydrostatic scales if its resolution is increased. The ideas are illustrated in simulations of convection, baroclinic instability and large-scale circulation in the Mediterranean.