A class of the van Leer-type transport schemes and its application to the moisture transport in a general circulation model

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Monthly Weather Review; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1994)122<1575:ACOTVL>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:6613065

Lin, Shian-Jiann; Chao, W C; Sud, Y C; Walker, G K ^[1]

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1. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

A generalized form of the second-order van Leer transport scheme is derived. Several constraints to the implied subgrid linear distribution are discussed. A very simple positive-definite scheme can be derived directly from the generalized form. A monotonic version of these scheme is applied to the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres (GLA) general circulation model (GCM) for the moisture transport calculations, replacing the original fourth-order center-differencing scheme. Comparisons with the original scheme are made in idealized tests as well as in a summer climate simulation using the full GLA GCM. A distinct advantage of the monotonic transport scheme is its ability to transport sharp gradients without producing spurious oscillations and unphysical negative mixing ratio. Within the context of low-resolution climate simulations, the aforementioned characteristics are demonstrated to be very beneficial in regions where cumulus convection is active. The model-produced precipitation pattern using the new transport scheme is more coherently organized both in time and in space, and correlates better with observations. The side effect of the filling algorithm used in conjunction with the original scheme is also discussed, in the context of idealized tests. The major weakness of the proposed transport scheme with a local monotonic constraint is its substantial implicit diffusion at low resolution. Alternative constraints are discussed to counter this problem. 34 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 6613065
• Journal Information: Monthly Weather Review; (United States), Vol. 122:7; ISSN 0027-0644
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
RESOLUTION
MOISTURE
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CLIMATE MODELS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
540110*
990200 - Mathematics &amp; Computers