2.3. Tracers¶
The basic conservation equations for ice area fraction \(a_{in}\), ice volume \(v_{in}\), and snow volume \(v_{sn}\) for each thickness category \(n\) are
The ice and snow volumes can be written equivalently in terms of tracers, ice thickness \(h_{in}\) and snow depth \(h_{sn}\):
Although we maintain ice and snow volume instead of the thicknesses as
state variables in CICE, the tracer form is used for volume transport
(section Horizontal Transport). There are many other tracers
available, whose values are contained in the trcrn
array. Their
transport equations typically have one of the following three forms
Equation (6) describes the transport of surface
temperature, whereas Equation (7) and Equation (8)
describe the transport of ice and snow enthalpy, salt, and passive
tracers such as volume-weighted ice age and snow age. Each tracer field
is given an integer index, trcr_depend
, which has the value 0, 1, or 2
depending on whether the appropriate conservation equation is
Equation (6), Equation (7), or Equation (8),
respectively. The total number of tracers is
\(N_{tr}\ge 1\). Table Tracers provides an overview of available tracers,
including the namelist flags that turn them on and off, and their indices in the tracer
arrays. If any of the three explicit pond schemes is on, then tr_pond
is true.
Biogeochemistry tracers can be defined in the skeletal layer, dependent on the ice area
fraction, or through the full depth of snow and ice, in which case they utilize the
bio grid and can depend on the brine fraction or the ice volume, if the brine fraction
is not in use.
flag |
num tracers |
dependency |
index (CICE grid) |
index (bio grid) |
---|---|---|---|---|
default |
1 |
aice |
nt_Tsfc=1 |
|
default |
1 |
vice |
nt_qice |
|
default |
1 |
vsno |
nt_qsno |
|
default |
1 |
vice |
nt_sice |
|
tr_iage |
1 |
vice |
nt_iage |
|
tr_FY |
1 |
aice |
nt_FY |
|
tr_lvl |
2 |
aice |
nt_alvl |
|
vice |
nt_vlvl |
|||
tr_pond_cesm |
2 |
aice |
nt_apnd |
|
apnd |
nt_vpnd |
|||
tr_pond_lvl |
3 |
aice |
nt_apnd |
|
apnd |
nt_vpnd |
|||
apnd |
nt_ipnd |
|||
tr_pond_topo |
3 |
aice |
nt_apnd |
|
apnd |
nt_vpnd |
|||
apnd |
nt_ipnd |
|||
tr_aero |
n_aero |
vice, vsno |
nt_aero |
|
tr_brine |
vice |
nt_fbri |
||
tr_fsd |
nfsd |
aice |
nt_fsd |
|
solve_zsal |
n_trzs |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_S |
|
tr_bgc_N |
n_algae |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_N |
nlt_bgc_N |
tr_bgc_Nit |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_Nit |
nlt_bgc_Nit |
|
tr_bgc_C |
n_doc |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DOC |
nlt_bgc_DOC |
n_dic |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DIC |
nlt_bgc_DIC |
|
tr_bgc_chl |
n_algae |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_chl |
nlt_bgc_chl |
tr_bgc_Am |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_Am |
nlt_bgc_Am |
|
tr_bgc_Sil |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_Sil |
nlt_bgc_Sil |
|
tr_bgc_DMS |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DMSPp |
nlt_bgc_DMSPd |
|
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DMSPd |
nlt_bgc_DMSPd |
||
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DMS |
nlt_bgc_DMS |
||
tr_bgc_PON |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_PON |
nlt_bgc_PON |
|
tr_bgc_DON |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_DON |
nlt_bgc_DON |
|
tr_bgc_Fe |
n_fed |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_Fed |
nlt_bgc_Fed |
n_fep |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_Fep |
nlt_bgc_Fep |
|
tr_bgc_hum |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_bgc_hum |
nlt_bgc_hum |
|
tr_zaero |
n_zaero |
fbri or (a,v)ice |
nt_zaero |
nlt_zaero |
1 |
fbri |
nt_zbgc_frac |
Users may add any number of additional tracers that are transported conservatively,
provided that the dependency trcr_depend
is defined appropriately.
See Section Adding Tracers for guidance on adding tracers.
Please see the Icepack documentation for additional information about tracers that depend on other tracers, the floe size distribution, age of the ice, aerosols, brine height, and the sea ice ecosystem.