Error Analysis of a B-Spline Based Finite-Element Method for Modeling Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation

We present the results of an error analysis of a B-spline based finite-element approximation of the stream-function formulation of the large scale wind-driven ocean circulation. In particular, we derive optimal error estimates for h-refinement using a Nitsche-type variational formulations of the two simplied linear models of the stationary quasigeostrophic equations, namely the Stommel and Stommel–Munk models. Numerical results obtained from simulations performed on rectangular and embedded geometries confirm the error analysis