The GFDL Modular Ocean Model V.3 (MOM3) (Pacanowski
and Griffies 1998) is a finite difference version of
the ocean primitive equations under the assumptions of Boussinesq
and hydrostatic approximation. It uses spherical coordinates in the horizontal
with a staggered Arakawa B grid and the z-coordinate in the vertical. The ocean
surface boundary is computed as an explicit free surface. The domain is
quasi-global extending from 74°S to 64°N. The zonal resolution is 1°. The meridional resolution is 1/3° between 10°S and 10°N, gradually increasing through the tropics until becoming
fixed at 1° poleward of 30°S and 30°N. There are 40 layers in the vertical with 27 layers in the
upper 400 m, and the bottom depth is around 4.5 Km. The vertical resolution is
10 m from the surface to the 240-m depth, gradually increasing to about 511 m
in the bottom layer. Vertical mixing follows the non-local K-profile parameterization
of Large et al. (1994). The horizontal mixing of tracers uses the isoneutral method pioneered by