Impacts of the horizontal and vertical grids on the numerical solutions of the dynamical equations – Part 2: Quasi-geostrophic Rossby modes

Journal Article · 08 May 2018 · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1785-2018 · OSTI ID:1436358

Konor, Celal S. ^[1]; Randall, David A. ^[1]

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1. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Science

We use a normal-mode analysis to investigate the impacts of the horizontal and vertical discretizations on the numerical solutions of the quasi-geostrophic anelastic baroclinic and barotropic Rossby modes on a midlatitude β plane. The dispersion equations are derived for the linearized anelastic system, 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 various horizontal grid spacings and vertical wavenumbers are discussed. A companion paper, Part 1, discusses the impacts of the discretization on the inertia–gravity modes on a midlatitude f plane. The results of our normal-mode analyses for the Rossby waves overall support the conclusions of the previous studies obtained with the shallow-water equations. We identify an area of disagreement with the E-grid solution.

• 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); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0016273; SC0007050; SC0016305; AGS-1500187
• OSTI ID: 1436358
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1505825
• Journal Information: Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Vol. 11, Issue 5; ISSN 1991-9603
• Publisher: European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English