Title: Nested mesoscale-to-LES modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of under-resolved convective structures

Abstract

Multiscale atmospheric simulations can be computationally prohibitive, as they require large domains and fine spatiotemporal resolutions. Grid-nesting can alleviate this by bridging mesoscales and microscales, but one turbulence scheme must run at resolutions within a range of scales known as the terra incognita (TI). TI grid-cell sizes can violate both mesoscale and microscale subgrid-scale parametrization assumptions, resulting in unrealistic flow structures. Herein we assess the impact of unrealistic lateral boundary conditions from parent mesoscale simulations at TI resolutions on nested large eddy simulations (LES), to determine whether parent domains bias the nested LES. We present a series of idealized nested mesoscale-to-LES runs of a dry convective boundary layer (CBL) with different parent resolutions in the TI. We compare the nested LES with a stand-alone LES with periodic boundary conditions. The nested LES domains develop ~20% smaller convective structures, while potential temperature profiles are nearly identical for both the mesoscales and LES simulations. The horizontal wind speed and surface wind shear in the nested simulations closely resemble the reference LES. Heat fluxes are overestimated by up to ~0.01 K m s-1 in the top half of the PBL for all nested simulations. Overestimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stressmore » in the nested domains are proportional to the parent domain's grid-cell size, and are almost eliminated for the simulation with the finest parent grid-cell size. Based on these results, we recommend that LES of the CBL be forced by mesoscale simulations with the finest practical resolution.« less

Authors:

Mazzaro, L. J.  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Mazzaro, L. J."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-3438-376X"

Muñoz-Esparza, D.  ^[2];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Muñoz-Esparza, D."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-2943-0376"

Lundquist, J. K.  ^[3];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Lundquist, J. K."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-5490-2702"

Linn, R. R.  ^[4]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Linn, R. R."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-5746-4880"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado USA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico USA
2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Colorado USA
3. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado USA, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden Colorado USA
4. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico USA

Publication Date:

Thu Jul 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017

Research Org.:

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:

1373814

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1373815; OSTI ID: 1375171; OSTI ID: 1409008

Report Number(s):

LA-UR-16-29427; NREL/JA-5000-70510
Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466

Grant/Contract Number:  

APUP UGA-0-41026-22; ACI-1126839; AC52-06NA25396; AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems; Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466

Publisher:

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Earth Sciences; WRF, LES, mesoscale-to-microscale, Terra Incognita, Convective Boundary Layer, grid-nesting; 17 WIND ENERGY; WRF; LES; terra incognita; convective boundary layer; grid nesting; mesoscale-to-LES