•History
–Developed from MICOM
version 2.8
•See Bleck (1998) for a
description of MICOM
–Hybrid coordinate
scheme used in HYCOM
•Model equations
written in generalized vertical coordinates
•Originally used in the
Bleck and Boudra (1981) quasi-isopycnic model
–Numerical schemes
could not handle zero thickness layers
–Minimum layer thickness
was enforced
»The vertical
coordinate became non-isopycnic in regions where the layers became too thin
•A hybrid (isentropic-sigma) vertical coordinate was used in the atmospheric model of Bleck and Benjamin (1993)
–The HYCOM isopycnic-level-sigma vertical coordinate scheme is an adaptation and extension of the Bleck/Benjamin
algorithm