Selfe Home Models Simulations Forecast Benchmarks Data Sources
ELCIRC specific benchmarks Benchmark problems are one of the mechanisms used to establish the bounds of confidence for numerical codes. We identify here an assortment of benchmark problems that we have used or are considering using to test the circulation codes utilized by the CORIE modeling system.

Problems vary widely in complexity, objectives, and degree of user-control. Most of the problems are not Columbia River specific, and many have been developed elsewhere for reasons unrelated to CORIE.

The table below organizes by type the benchmarks that we have used or are considering using. The description of most benchmarks typically includes a code-independent statement of the problem and a brief overview of results with ELCIRC and/or other models.
Type General Descriptor Specific Problems
Wind Classical problems with known quantitative solutions for the response of flow to wind forcing, in simple domains.
  • Ekman motion
  • Coastal upwelling in a rectangular basin
  • Stommel's rectangular ocean
Stratification Qualitative solutions for flow responses to density gradients in simple domains.
  • Stable stratification
  • Unstable stratification
Tides Analytical solutions for tidal propagation in simple domains.
  • Rectangular channel
  • Amphidrome in rectangular channel
  • Quarter annulus
Heat Exchange Qualitative aspects of heating/cooling of multiple water pools of diferent depth
  • Multiple pools
Eastern North Pacific Qualitative responses of the Eastern North Pacific bathymetry to atmospheric and ocean forcings
  • Heat balances
  • Upwelling regimes
  • Low frequency ocean currents
Columbia River Realistic conditions, with comparison against observational data
  • Calibration runs: estuary; plume
  • Validation runs: estuary; plume
  • Today's forecast