Impacts of Soil Moisture on the Numerical Simulation of a Post-Landfall Storm

Surface heat and moisture fluxes are important to the evolution of a tropical storm after its landfall. Soil moisture is one of the essential components that influence surface heating and moisture fluxes. In this study, the impact of soil moisture on a pre-landfall numerical simulation of Tropical Storm Bill(2015), which had a much longer lifespan over land, is investigated by using the research version of the NCEP Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting(HWRF) model. It is found that increased soil moisture with SLAB scheme before storm's landfall tends to produce a weaker storm after landfall and has negative impacts on storm track simulation. Further diagnoses with different land surface schemes and sensitivity experiments indicate that the increase in soil moisture inside the storm corresponds to a strengthened vertical mixing within the storm boundary layer, which is conducive to the decay of storm and has negative impacts on storm evolution. In addition, surface diabatic heating effects over the storm environment are also found to be an important positive contribution to the storm evolution over land, but their impacts are not so substantial as boundary layer vertical mixing inside the storm. The overall results highlight the importance and uncertainty of soil moisture in numerical model simulations of landfalling hurricanes and their further evolution over land.     

Vortex–ridge interaction in a rotating fluid

The evolution of barotropic vortices interacting with a topographic ridge on a f-plane is studied by means of laboratory experiments in a rotating tank and numerical simulations. The initial condition in all experiments is a cyclonic vortex created at a certain distance from the ridge. The results are presented in two main scenarios: (a) weak interactions, which occur at early stages of the experiments, when the vortex is far from the ridge, and thus weakly experiences the influence of the topography. In these situations, the vortex slowly drifts towards the ridge with a leftward inclination due to the ascending slope of the topography. Such a behaviour is similar to the “northwestern” motion of cyclones over a weak sloping bottom. The circular shape of the monopolar vortex is preserved. (b) Strong interactions, in which the vortex core reaches the ridge and presents a more complicated evolution. The cyclone “climbs” to the top of the topography and crosses to the other side. Once the vortex experiences the opposite slope, it moves backwards trying to return to the original side of the ridge. For strong enough vortices, this process may be repeated a number of times until the vortex is dissipated by viscous effects. During these interactions the shape of the vortex is strongly deformed and several filaments are produced. In some cases the vortex is cleaved in two parts when crossing the ridge, one at each side of it and moving in opposite directions.Weak and strong interactions are numerically simulated by using a quasi-two-dimensional model. The results confirm that the vortex behaviour is governed by stretching and squeezing effects associated with changes in depth over the ridge and, at latter stages, by Ekman damping due to the solid bottom. The main results observed during strong interactions on a f-plane are also found on preliminar topographic β-plane experiments.     

A Large-Eddy Simulation Study of Turbulent Flow Over Multiscale Topography

Most natural landscapes are characterized by multiscale (often multifractal) topography with well-known scale-invariance properties. For example, the spectral density of landscape elevation fields is often found to have a power-law scaling behaviour (with a −2 slope on a log–log scale) over a wide span of spatial scales, typically ranging from tens of kilometres down to a few metres. Even though the effect of topography on the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) has been the subject of numerous studies, few have focussed on multiscale topography. In this study, large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to investigate boundary-layer flow over multiscale topography, and guide the development of parametrizations needed to represent the effects of subgrid-scale (SGS) topography in numerical models of ABL flow. Particular emphasis is placed on the formulation of an effective roughness used to account for the increased aerodynamic roughness associated with SGS topography. The LES code uses the scale-dependent Lagrangian dynamic SGS model for the turbulent stresses and a terrain-following coordinate transformation to explicitly resolve the effects of the topography at scales larger than the LES resolution. The terrain used in the simulations is generated using a restricted solid-on-solid landscape evolution model, and it is characterized by a −2 slope of the elevation power spectrum. Results from simulations performed using elevation fields band-pass filtered at different spatial resolutions indicate a clear linear relation between the square of the effective roughness and the variance of elevation.     

强迫二维Rossby波传播特征的数值试验

Bjerknes提出了大气对外界强迫响应的概念。大量研究已证明这一遥响应机制的存在,且大气对强迫源的遥响应及其低频活动的共同特征都表现为类似大圆路径的波列,Hoskins的理论研究揭示了这现象的实质,他把叶笃正所提出的Rossby波的频散理论推广到球面上。黄荣辉曾利用波折射指数平方与EP通量系统地研究了北半球冬夏准定常行星波的传播规律。邹晓蕾、叶笃正、吴国雄提出了中高纬的相关链、定常地形波链,并指出北美与东亚相关型的差异与两区域地形准定常波在不同纬向流中传播的差异有关。观测分析亦表明,青藏高原是大气低频振荡的强迫源,且在此区域可产生向北、向南或向东、向西传播的波列。     

Relative Influence of Urban And Orographic Effects for Low Wind Conditions in the Paris Area

The relative roles of land-use and orography on the meteorological fields in the Paris area are studied by means of numerical simulations of two Special Observing Periods (SOP), of the ECLAP experiment. Sensitivity experiments have been performed with flat orography to investigate the strength of the urban effects, and with a uniform land-use surface to replace the surface heterogeneities, to isolate the orographic forcing. Comparisons of the simulated fields with a reference simulation including all forcing are analysed. It is found that during these two SOP of spring-time conditions, despite the low terrain elevation, the orographic effect is the main forcing of the dynamic field but that although the land use is the dominant factor reproducing the thermal evolution of the boundary layer, the orography alone also plays a role in the temperature pattern with slope flows in and out of the Paris basin.     

华东沿海地形对登陆热带气旋运动影响的理想数值研究

利用中尺度数值模式设计一组高分辨率理想试验,采用位涡趋势方法定量诊断分析热带气旋在登陆我国华东沿海地形时,其运动发生的精细化变化以及不同因子的贡献。结果表明,平地的存在使得登陆热带气旋移速相对更快,当华东沿海地形存在时,热带气旋移速显著增大,这种增速现象主要是由于平地和地形所引起的非对称气流以及相应的引导气流变化所致,这很可能是导致预报路径误差的一个重要原因。平地试验中,陆地在热带气旋低层激发出中小尺度的非对称气流,与之不同的是,实际地形的加入激发出更大尺度并且更强的非对称偏南气流。位涡趋势方法的诊断结果表明,非引导效应总体而言对热带气旋运动贡献较小,这是因为这些因子相互抵消,但在不同的垂直层次上,不同的非引导因子贡献存在明显的差异。     

Influence of Topography and Large-scale Forcing on the Occurrence of Katabatic Flow Jumps in Antarctica： Idealized Simulations

The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System （RAMS）, which is a non-hydrostatic numerical model, has been used to investigate the impact of terrain shape and large-scale forcing on the Antarctic surface-wind regime, focusing on their roles in establishing favorable flow conditions for the formation of katabatic flow jumps. A series of quasi-2D numerical simulations were conducted over idealized slopes representing the slopes of Antarctica during austral winter conditions. Results indicate that the steepness and variations of the underlying slope play a role in the evolution of near-surface flows and thus the formation of katabatic flow jumps. However, large-scale forcing has a more noticeable effect on the occurrence of this small-scale phenomenon by establishing essential upstream and downstream flow conditions, including the upstream supercritical flow, the less stably stratified or unstable layer above the cold katabatic layer, as well as the cold-air pool located near the foot of the slope through an interaction with the underlying topography. Thus, the areas with steep and abrupt change in slopes, e.g. near the coastal areas of the eastern Antarctic, are preferred locations for the occurrence of katabatic flow jumps, especially under supporting synoptic conditions.     

On the role of resolution and topography in the simulation of East Asia precipitation

Summary In this paper, we investigate the role that horizontal resolution plays in the simulation of East Asia precipitation. Two sets of numerical experiments are performed using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM2) nested in one-way mode within the CSIRO global coupled atmosphere-ocean model. In the first set we use the actual RegCM2 topography at the selected model resolutions, which are 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 km. In the second set of the experiments, the same coarse CSIRO model topography is used in all simulations using the different resolutions of the first set. The results demonstrate that the simulation of East Asian precipitation improves as the horizontal resolution is increased. Moreover, it is shown that the simulations using a higher resolution along with the coarse CSIRO topography perform better than the simulations using a coarser model resolution with corresponding model topography. This suggests that over East Asia adequate spatial resolution to resolve the physical and dynamical processes is more important than topography. Lastly, the results indicate that model resolutions of 60 km or higher are needed to accurately simulate the distribution of precipitation over China and East Asia.     

Large-Eddy Simulations of Atmospheric Flows Over Complex Terrain Using the Immersed-Boundary Method in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model

Atmospheric flow over complex terrain, particularly recirculation flows, greatly influences wind-turbine siting, forest-fire behaviour, and trace-gas and pollutant dispersion. However, there is a large uncertainty in the simulation of flow over complex topography, which is attributable to the type of turbulence model, the subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence parametrization, terrain-following coordinates, and numerical errors in finite-difference methods. Here, we upgrade the large-eddy simulation module within the Weather Research and Forecasting model by incorporating the immersed-boundary method into the module to improve simulations of the flow and recirculation over complex terrain. Simulations over the Bolund Hill indicate improved mean absolute speed-up errors with respect to previous studies, as well an improved simulation of the recirculation zone behind the escarpment of the hill. With regard to the SGS parametrization, the Lagrangian-averaged scale-dependent Smagorinsky model performs better than the classic Smagorinsky model in reproducing both velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. A finer grid resolution also improves the strength of the recirculation in flow simulations, with a higher horizontal grid resolution improving simulations just behind the escarpment, and a higher vertical grid resolution improving results on the lee side of the hill. Our modelling approach has broad applications for the simulation of atmospheric flows over complex topography.     

Impact of topography and land-sea distribution on East Asian paleoenvironmental patterns

Much geological research has illustrated the transition of paleoenvironmental patterns during the Cenozoic from a planetary-wind-dominant type to a monsoon-dominant type, indicating the initiation of the East Asian monsoon and inland-type aridity. However, there is a dispute about the causes and mechanisms of the transition, especially about the impact of the Himalayan/Tibetan Plateau uplift and the Paratethys Sea retreat. Thirty numerical sensitivity experiments under different land-sea distributions and Himalayan/Tibetan Plateau topography conditions are performed here to simulate the evolution of climate belts with emphasis on changes in the rain band, and these are compared with the changes in the paleoenvironmental patterns during the Cenozoic recovered by geological records. The consistency between simulations and the geological evidence indicates that both the Tibetan Plateau uplift and the Paratethys Sea retreat play important roles in the formation of the monsoon-dominant environmental pattern. Furthermore, the simulations show the monsoon-dominant environmental pattern comes into being when the Himalayan/Tibetan Plateau reaches 1000–2000 m high and the Paratethys Sea retreats to the Turan Plate.     

大涡模拟试验中台风梯度风平衡分析

尽管经典台风强度理论是基于梯度风平衡模型,但是已有的飞机观测资料和数值模拟研究发现,边界层中和眼墙附近存在非梯度风平衡气流,前人数值模拟发现,眼墙附近最大的超梯度风可以达到切向风速的16.7%。大涡模拟可以模拟出滚涡和龙卷尺度涡旋等小尺度系统,这些小尺度系统对梯度风平衡可能产生影响,使用中尺度天气预报模式结合大涡模拟（WRF-LES）对模拟台风内核区域方位角平均的梯度风平衡进行了分析,三个大涡模拟试验的水平分辨率分别为333 m、111 m和37 m,结果表明非梯度风平衡气流并未因为分辨率提高而显著增强或产生结构差异,最大超梯度风出现在边界层顶处最大切向风半径的内侧,达到梯度风速的10.8%~16.1%。进一步分析发现,不同台风中心定位方法会影响非梯度风平衡气流,最小气压方差法和最大切向风法可以得到与前人模拟一致的结构,而气压权重法得到的低层超梯度风中心远离眼墙、靠近台风中心,位涡权重法得到的低层超梯度风的径向范围向内扩大,最小气压方差法和最大切向风法更适合用于梯度风平衡研究中的台风中心定位。     

A numerical method for solving the evolution equation of solitary Rossby waves on a weak shear

In this paper an evolution equation in integral-differential form for finite amplitude Rossby waves on a weak shear is presented and an efficient method for its numerical solution is set up. It is shown that a propa-gation of solitary wave is possible whenever a proper weak shear in basic flows acts with the nonlinear effects and dispersion of the media, both in the atmosphere and in the ocean. To test the numerical method for solving the evolution equation, a series of experiments are carried out. The results indicate that the solitary solutions do exist and interact with each other in quite a succinct, manner. Therefore the method is successful and efficient for solving initial value problems of the above equation. The time decoupling problem arising in the numerical scheme and the related filtering technique are discussed. A variety of interesting phenomena such as the interaction of solitary Rossby waves, damping, dispersion and the development of nonlinear wave train are numerically studied.     

Long-term ice sheet–climate interactions under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing simulated with a complex Earth System Model

Several multi-century and multi-millennia simulations have been performed with a complex Earth System Model (ESM) for different anthropogenic climate change scenarios in order to study the long-term evolution of sea level and the impact of ice sheet changes on the climate system. The core of the ESM is a coupled coarse-resolution Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Model (AOGCM). Ocean biogeochemistry, land vegetation and ice sheets are included as components of the ESM. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) decays in all simulations, while the Antarctic ice sheet contributes negatively to sea level rise, due to enhanced storage of water caused by larger snowfall rates. Freshwater flux increases from Greenland are one order of magnitude smaller than total freshwater flux increases into the North Atlantic basin (the sum of the contribution from changes in precipitation, evaporation, run-off and Greenland meltwater) and do not play an important role in changes in the strength of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (NAMOC). The regional climate change associated with weakening/collapse of the NAMOC drastically reduces the decay rate of the GrIS. The dynamical changes due to GrIS topography modification driven by mass balance changes act first as a negative feedback for the decay of the ice sheet, but accelerate the decay at a later stage. The increase of surface temperature due to reduced topographic heights causes a strong acceleration of the decay of the ice sheet in the long term. Other feedbacks between ice sheet and atmosphere are not important for the mass balance of the GrIS until it is reduced to 3/4 of the original size. From then, the reduction in the albedo of Greenland strongly accelerates the decay of the ice sheet.     

Finite-amplitude, neutral baroclinic eddies and mean flows in an internally heated rotating fluid: 1. Numerical simulations and quasi-geostrophic ‘free modes’

A series of numerical simulations of steady wave flows in a rotating fluid annulus, subject to internal heating and various thermal boundary conditions, is examined to characterise their structures, energetics and potential vorticity transport properties. The last of these characteristics, together with more conventional scaling considerations, indicate the possibility of applying quasi-geostrophic theory to the interior flow in a formulation similar to the inviscid, adiabatic models of Kuo and White.The analytical model of White, describing finite amplitude, neutral baroclinic eddies and mean flows as illustrations of the Charney-Drazin non-acceleration theorem, is then extended to include uniform diabatic heating and the effects of different forms of lateral shear in the background mean zonal flow. Like the solutions discussed by White, those obtained in the present paper consist of steady, internal jet, mean zonal flows, and baroclinic and barotropic Rossby wave components, all having the same three-dimensional wavenumber. Provided the diabatic heating is proportional to the stratification of the background flow, measured by the square of the Brunt-Vaisälä frequency N, the potential vorticity equation remains homogeneous. All the solutions are then characterised by zero net transfer of potential vorticity despite the possibility of non-zero eddy fluxes of heat or momentum and non-trivial Lorenz energy cycles.A series of particular three-component solutions (which, like some of the solutions discussed by White, do not obey conventional lateral boundary conditions) is examined as possible theoretical analogues of the steady waves observed in the numerical simulations of the laboratory flows, and is found to agree encouragingly well in the spatial variations of their mean flows, eddy stream function (pressure) and eddy fluxes of heat and momentum. Potential vorticity fluxes in the numerical simulations are relatively small (though crucially non-zero), supporting the possible analogy with the analytical model and exposing some limitations of the latter in not accounting for weak dissipation and forcing processes present in the laboratory flows.Further implications of the results are discussed, including possible analogies between the laboratory experiments and certain features in planetary atmospheres and oceans.     

Impacts of Topographic Complexity on Modeling Moisture Transport and Precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer

The non-hydrostatic global variable resolution model (MPAS-atmosphere) is used to conduct the simulations for the South Asian Summer monsoon season (June, July, and August) in 2015 with a refinement over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) at the convection-permitting scale (4 km). Two experiments with different topographical datasets, complex (4-km) and smooth (60-km) topography, are designed to investigate the impacts of topographical complexity on moisture transport and precipitation. Compared with the observations and reanalysis data, the simulation can successfully capture the general features of key meteorological fields over the TP despite slightly underestimating the inflow through the southern TP. The results indicate that the complex topography can decrease the inward and outward moisture transport, ultimately increasing the total net moisture transport into the TP by ~11%. The impacts of complex topography on precipitation are negligible over the TP, but the spatial distributions of precipitation over the Himalayas are significantly modulated. With the inclusion of complex topography, the sharper southern slopes of the Himalayas shift the lifted airflow and hence precipitation northward compared to the smooth topography. In addition, more small-scale valleys are resolved by the inclusion of complex topography, which serve as channels for moisture transport across the Himalayas, further favoring a northward shift of precipitation. Overall, the difference between the two experiments with different topography datasets is mainly attributed to their differing representation of the degree of the southern slopes of the Himalayas and the extent to which the valleys are resolved.     

南海夏季风爆发的数值预报试验

分析了1986年南海夏季风爆发的环流演变特征,由经向风速剖面图看出,南风首先在中南半岛迅速加强,然后向南海发展,南海夏季风爆发同孟加拉湾低压的发展密切相关。通过地形和非绝热单因子敏感性数值预报试验表明,地形作用和凝结潜热等非绝热作用对南海夏季风的爆发都是很重要的,包含有这两种作用在内的控制试验成功地预报出了南海夏季风爆发的中期演变过程,单独的地形作用或非绝热作用都不能预报出南海夏季风的爆发。     

切变气流中地形强迫激发的非线性长波

经推导得到了包括地形和耗散的ＦＫｄＶ－Ｂｕｒｇｅｒｓ方程,利用数值解讨论了地表强迫激发的弧波演变以及移动性孤波与地形的相互作用,结果显示,对于α〉０或α〈０,不论是在气旋式切变气流还是反气旋式切变气流中,地形都能在强迫激发出定常孤波,在其下游产生调制椭圆余弦波列的背风波,当α＝０时,在反气旋式切变气流中强迫区产生的是大振幅定常孤波,气旋式切变气流中强迫区产生的是复杂的非定常孤波,地形强迫产生的ｍ＝     

海岛测站大风资料代表性的数值模型分析

对大风情形下实际海岛的风场结构进行数值模拟,结果表明海岛测风明显受海岛地形的影响。通常运用对数或指数风廓线公式,对海岛测风资料作简单高度换算以得到海面10 m风速的订正方法一般是不合理的。通过海岛测站观测值与模拟值的对比分析,说明借助数值模拟寻求测风资料订正方法的必要性与可能性。     

Flow over Hills: A Large-Eddy Simulation of the Bolund Case

Simulation of local atmospheric flows around complex topography is important for several applications in wind energy (short-term wind forecasting and turbine siting and control), local weather prediction in mountainous regions and avalanche risk assessment. However, atmospheric simulation around steep mountain topography remains challenging, and a number of different approaches are used to represent such topography in numerical models. The immersed boundary method (IBM) is particularly well-suited for efficient and numerically stable simulation of flow around steep terrain. It uses a homogenous grid and permits a fast meshing of the topography. Here, we use the IBM in conjunction with a large-eddy simulation (LES) and test it against two unique datasets. In the first comparison, the LES is used to reproduce experimental results from a wind-tunnel study of a smooth three-dimensional hill. In the second comparison, we simulate the wind field around the Bolund Hill, Denmark, and make direct comparisons with field measurements. Both cases show good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data, with the largest disagreement observed near the surface. The source of error is investigated by performing additional simulations with a variety of spatial resolutions and surface roughness properties.