Evaluation of Nonbreaking Wave-Induced Mixing Parameterization Schemes Based on a One-Dimensional Ocean Model

Surface waves have a considerable effect on vertical mixing in the upper ocean. In the past two decades, the vertical mixing induced through nonbreaking surface waves has been used in ocean and climate models to improve the simulation of the upper ocean. Thus far, several nonbreaking wave-induced mixing parameterization schemes have been proposed; however, no quantitative comparison has been performed among them. In this paper, a one-dimensional ocean model was used to compare the performances of five schemes, including those of Qiao et al. (Q), Hu and Wang (HW), Huang and Qiao (HQ), Pleskachevsky et al. (P), and Ghantous and Babanin (GB). Similar to previous studies, all of these schemes can decrease the simulated sea surface temperature (SST), increase the subsurface temperature, and deepen the mixed layer, thereby alleviating the common thermal deviation problem of the ocean model for upper ocean simulation. Among these schemes, the HQ scheme exhibited the weakest wave-induced mixing effect, and the HW scheme exhibited the strongest effect; the other three schemes exhibited roughly the same effect. In particular, the Q and P schemes exhibited nearly the same effect. In the simulation based on observations from the Ocean Weather Station Papa, the HQ scheme exhibited the best performance, followed by the Q scheme. In the experiment with the HQ scheme, the root-mean-square deviation of the simulated SST from the observations was 0.43°C, and the mixed layer depth (MLD) was 2.0 m. As a contrast, the deviations of the SST and MLD reached 1.25°C and 8.4 m, respectively, in the experiment without wave-induced mixing.