An ocean-land-atmosphere coupled model for tropical cyclone landfall processes: The multi-layer ocean model and its verification

POM (Princeton ocean model) tentatively taken as the ocean part of an ocean-land-atmosphere coupled model is verified for the ultimate purpose of studying the landfall process of tropical cyclone (TC) in the western North Pacific. The POM is tested with monthly mean wind stress in the summer and given lateral boundary conditions. The results indicate that the equilibrium state of the ocean is in accordance with the climate mean, with the error in sea surface temperature (salinity) less than 0.5 ℃ (0.5). The simulated ocean currents are reasonable as well.Several numerical experiments are designed to verify the oceanic response to a stationary or moving TC. It is found that the results agree fairly well with the previous work, including both the drop magnitude and the distribution of sea temperature. Compared with the simple two-layer ocean model used by some other studies, the response of the ocean to a TC is more logical here. The model is also verified in a real case with a TC passing the neighborhood of a buoy station. It is shown that the established ocean model can basically reproduce the sea surface temperature change as observed.