A discontinuous finite element baroclinic marine model on unstructured prismatic meshes. Part 1: Space discretization

We solve the hydrostatic Boussinesq equations governing marine flows on a mesh made up of triangles extruded from the surface toward the seabed to obtain prismatic three-dimensional elements. Diffusion is implemented using the symmetric interior penalty method.

The tracer equation is consistent with the continuity equation. A Lax-Friedrichs flux is used to take into account internal wave propagation. By way of illustration, a flow exhibiting internal waves in the lee of an isolated seamount on the sphere is simulated.