Huang, R-X., and K. Bryan, 1987: A multilayer model of the thermohaline and wind-driven ocean circulation. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 17(11), 1909-1924.

Abstract: A hybrid, multilayer model for the oceanic general circulation is formulated and tested. The model includes a mixed layer at the surface which is specified by Eulerian coordinates, and three moving layers below which are specified by quasi-Lagrangian, isopycnal coordinates.

Initial tests have been carried out with a 22 x 22 horizontal grid mesh covering a subtropical-subpolar basin (6000 x 6000 km²). The numerical results demonstrate a strong interaction between the wind-driven and the thermally driven circulations, including outcropping of the lower isopycnal layers, a Gulf Stream-like interior boundary current, and convection which produces mode water and abyssal water. The model provides insight into the potential vorticity balance and its relation to both the wind-driven and thermohaline components of the circulation which has not been previously available from Eulerian numerical models or analytical models based on the assumption of an ideal fluid thermocline.