Inclusion of the Bottom Boundary Layer in Ocean Models

Abstract. The effects of the turbulent bottom boundary layer of the ocean are examined from various process, physical, and climatic perspectives. We discuss how parameterisations might be employed for climate models, which cannot resolve such layers, and discuss the extant parameterisations and their implications. Introduction: should we care about Bottom Boundary Layers? At the base of the atmosphere lies a turbulent layer, thickness of order 1000 m. The layer is occasionally stable, but more usually convective in nature due t