Modeling ocean-induced rapid Earth rotation variations: an update.

We revisit the problem of modeling the ocean's contribution to rapid, non-tidal Earth rotation variations at periods of 2-120 days. Estimates of oceanic angular momentum (OAM, 2007-2011) are drawn from a suite of established circulation models and new numerical simulations, whose finest configuration is on a ∘ grid. We show that the OAM product by the Earth System Modeling Group at GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam has spurious short period variance in its equatorial motion terms, rendering the series a poor choice for describing oceanic signals in polar motion on time scales of less than ∼ 2 weeks. Accounting for OAM in rotation budgets from other models typically reduces the variance of atmosphere-corrected geodetic excitation by ∼ 54% for deconvolved polar motion and by ∼ 60% for length-of-day. Use of OAM from the ∘ model does provide for an additional reduction in residual variance such that the combined oceanic-atmospheric effect explains as much as 84% of the polar motion excitation at periods < 120 days. Employing statistical analysis and bottom pressure changes from daily Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment solutions, we highlight the tendency of ocean models run at a 1 ∘ grid spacing to misrepresent topographically constrained dynamics in some deep basins of the Southern Ocean, which has adverse effects on OAM estimates taken along the 90 ∘ meridian. Higher model resolution thus emerges as a sensible target for improving the oceanic component in broader efforts of Earth system modeling for geodetic purposes.

The Global S[Formula: see text] Tide in Earth's Nutation.

Diurnal S[Formula: see text] tidal oscillations in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system induce small perturbations of Earth's prograde annual nutation, but matching geophysical model estimates of this Sun-synchronous rotation signal with the observed effect in geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data has thus far been elusive. The present study assesses the problem from a geophysical model perspective, using four modern-day atmospheric assimilation systems and a consistently forced barotropic ocean model that dissipates its energy excess in the global abyssal ocean through a parameterized tidal conversion scheme. The use of contemporary meteorological data does, however, not guarantee accurate nutation estimates per se; two of the probed datasets produce atmosphere-ocean-driven S[Formula: see text] terms that deviate by more than 30 [Formula: see text]as (microarcseconds) from the VLBI-observed harmonic of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]as. Partial deficiencies of these models in the diurnal band are also borne out by a validation of the air pressure tide against barometric in situ estimates as well as comparisons of simulated sea surface elevations with a global network of S[Formula: see text] tide gauge determinations. Credence is lent to the global S[Formula: see text] tide derived from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and the operational model of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). When averaged over a temporal range of 2004 to 2013, their nutation contributions are estimated to be [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]as (MERRA) and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]as (ECMWF operational), thus being virtually equivalent with the VLBI estimate. This remarkably close agreement will likely aid forthcoming nutation theories in their unambiguous a priori account of Earth's prograde annual celestial motion.