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Title: Impacts of the horizontal and vertical grids on the numerical solutions of the dynamical equations – Part 1: Nonhydrostatic inertia–gravity modes

Journal Article · · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
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We have used a normal-mode analysis to investigate the impacts of the horizontal and vertical discretizations on the numerical solutions of the nonhydrostatic anelastic inertia–gravity modes on a midlatitude f plane. The dispersion equations are derived from the linearized anelastic equations that are discretized on the Z, C, D, CD, (DC), A, E and B horizontal grids, and on the L and CP vertical grids. The effects of both horizontal grid spacing and vertical wavenumber are analyzed, and the role of nonhydrostatic effects is discussed. We also compare the results of the normal-mode analyses with numerical solutions obtained by running linearized numerical models based on the various horizontal grids. The sources and behaviors of the computational modes in the numerical simulations are also examined.Our normal-mode analyses with the Z, C, D, A, E and B grids generally confirm the conclusions of previous shallow-water studies for the cyclone-resolving scales (with low horizontal wavenumbers). We conclude that, aided by nonhydrostatic effects, the Z and C grids become overall more accurate for cloud-resolving resolutions (with high horizontal wavenumbers) than for the cyclone-resolving scales.A companion paper, Part 2, discusses the impacts of the discretization on the Rossby modes on a midlatitude β plane.

Research Organization:
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016273; SC0007050; SC0016305; AGS-1500187
OSTI ID:
1436359
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1505824
Journal Information:
Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online) Vol. 11 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 1991-9603
Publisher:
Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 3 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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