An Intercomparison of Large-Eddy Simulations of the Stable Boundary Layer

Results are presented from the first intercomparison of large-eddy simulation (LES) models for the stable boundary layer (SBL), as part of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Atmospheric Boundary Layer Study initiative. A moderately stable case is used, based on Arctic observations. All models produce successful simulations, in as much as they generate resolved turbulence and reflect many of the results from local scaling theory and observations. Simulations performed at 1-m and 2-m resolution show only small changes in the mean profiles compared to coarser resolutions. Also, sensitivity to subgrid models for individual models highlights their importance in SBL simulation at moderate resolution (6.25 m). Stability functions are derived from the LES using typical mixing lengths used in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and climate models. The functions have smaller values than those used in NWP. There is also support for the use of K-profile similarity in parametrizations. Thus, the results provide improved understanding and motivate future developments of the parametrization of the SBL.     

Influence of the Coriolis force on the formation of a seasonal thermocline

Large eddy simulation (LES) reveals that the Coriolis force plays an important role in seasonal thermocline formation. In the high-latitude ocean, a seasonal thermocline is formed at a certain depth, across which the downward transports of heat and momentum are prohibited. On the other hand, in the equatorial ocean, heat and momentum continue to propagate downward to the deeper ocean without forming a well-defined thermocline. Mechanism to clarify the latitudinal difference is suggested. The depth of a seasonal thermocline h is scaled in terms of both the Ekman length scale λ and the Monin–Obukhov length scale L, as h ??? 0.5(Lλ)^1/2, which is in contrast to the earlier suggestion as h?∝?L.     

Turbulent mixing in a rotating,stratified fluid

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of rotation on turbulent mixing in a stratified fluid when the turbulence in the mixed layer is generated by an oscillating grid. Two types of experiments were carried out: one of them is concerned with the deepening of the upper mixed layer in a stable, two-fluid system, and the other deals with the interaction between a stabilizing buoyancy flux and turbulence.

In the first type of experiments, it was found that rotation suppresses entrainment at larger Rossby numbers. As the Rossby number becomes smaller (Ro 0.1), the entrainment rate increases with rotation—the onset of this phenomenon, however, was found to coincide with the appearance of coherent vortices within the mixed layer. The radiation of energy from the mixed layer to the lower non-turbulent layer was found to occur and the magnitude of the energy flux was found to be increased with the rotational frequency. It was also observed that vortices are generated, rather abruptly, in the lower layer as the mixed layer deepens.

In the second set of experiments a quasi-steady mixed layer was found to develop of which the thickness varies with rotation in a fashion that is consistent with the result of the first experiment. Also the rotation was found to delay the formation of a pycnocline.     

Changes in mixed layer depth under climate change projections in two CGCMs

Two coupled general circulation models, i.e., the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) models, were chosen to examine changes in mixed layer depth (MLD) in the equatorial tropical Pacific and its relationship with ENSO under climate change projections. The control experiment used pre-industrial greenhouse gas concentrations whereas the 2 × CO₂ experiment used doubled CO₂ levels. In the control experiment, the MLD simulated in the MRI model was shallower than that in the GFDL model. This resulted in the tropical Pacific’s mean sea surface temperature (SST) increasing at different rates under global warming in the two models. The deeper the mean MLD simulated in the control simulation, the lesser the warming rate of the mean SST simulated in the 2 × CO₂ experiment. This demonstrates that the MLD is a key parameter for regulating the response of tropical mean SST to global warming. In particular, in the MRI model, increased stratification associated with global warming amplified wind-driven advection within the mixed layer, leading to greater ENSO variability. On the other hand, in the GFDL model, wind-driven currents were weak, which resulted in mixed-layer dynamics being less sensitive to global warming. The relationship between MLD and ENSO was also examined. Results indicated that the non-linearity between the MLD and ENSO is enhanced from the control run to the 2 × CO₂ run in the MRI model, in contrast, the linear relationship between the MLD index and ENSO is unchanged despite an increase in CO₂ concentrations in the GFDL model.     

The role of molecular diffusion in the deepening of the mixed layer

Turbulent mixing across heat-stratified density interfaces was studied in the laboratory using oscillating-grid generated turbulence. The aim was to study the transition between the entrainment regimes dominated by interfacial wave-breaking and molecular diffusion, and to study the characteristics of the latter. It was observed that, above a critical Richardson number Ri_c, which depends on the Peclet number Pe, the mixing due to wave breaking disappears and that Ri_c Pe⁻ⁿ, where the mean value of the exponent n is approximately . Above Ri_c, the entrainment is molecular-diffusion dominated and takes place through a sequence of events: the buoyancy gradient of the initially sharp density interface is weakened by molecular diffusion until the mixed-layer eddies can engulf a portion of the interfacial layer wherefore the interface sharpens again. Thus, the entrainment events are recurrent with a rate-controlling diffusion stage between them. An entrainment law of the form E Ri⁻²Pe⁻², where E is the entrainment coefficient and Ri is the Richardson number, is suggested for the diffusion-dominated entrainment regime.     

Effects of freshwater runoff on a tropical pacific climate in the HadGEM2

This paper investigates the effects of river discharge on simulated climatology from 1979 to 1988 using the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2. Two experiments are performed with and without the inclusion of Total Runoff Integrating Pathways. The results show that the inclusion of flow routing can lead to the decrease of salinity over the coastal region due to freshwater. This reduction results in a shallower mixed layer depth, which in turn leads to the weakening of trade winds and a decrease in vertical mixing in the ocean. The enhanced sensible and latent heat fluxes over warmed SST improve the simulated precipitation and thermodynamic circulation. As a result, the experiment with flow routing is capable of improving the large-scale climate feature with an increase in precipitation over the eastern tropical equatorial Pacific region.     

Role of the upper ocean structure in the response of ENSO-like SST variability to global warming

The response of El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like variability to global warming varies comparatively between the two different climate system models, i.e., the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Coupled General Circulation Models (CGCMs). Here, we examine the role of the simulated upper ocean temperature structure in the different sensitivities of the simulated ENSO variability in the models based on the different level of CO₂ concentrations. In the MRI model, the sea surface temperature (SST) undergoes a rather drastic modification, namely a tendency toward a permanent El Niño-like state. This is associated with an enhanced stratification which results in greater ENSO amplitude for the MRI model. On the other hand, the ENSO simulated by GFDL model is hardly modified although the mean temperature in the near surface layer increases. In order to understand the associated mechanisms we carry out a vertical mode decomposition of the mean equatorial stratification and a simplified heat balance analysis using an intermediate tropical Pacific model tuned from the CGCM outputs. It is found that in the MRI model the increased stratification is associated with an enhancement of the zonal advective feedback and the non-linear advection. In the GFDL model, on the other hand, the thermocline variability and associated anomalous vertical advection are reduced in the eastern equatorial Pacific under global warming, which erodes the thermocline feedback and explains why the ENSO amplitude is reduced in a warmer climate in this model. It is suggested that change in stratification associated with global warming impacts the equatorial wave dynamics in a way that enhances the second baroclinic mode over the gravest one, which leads to the change in feedback processes in the CGCMs. Our results illustrate that the upper ocean vertical structure simulated in the CGCMs is a key parameter of the sensitivity of ENSO-like SST variability to global warming.     

Interaction between Wind and Temperature Fields in the Planetary Boundary Layer for a Spatially Heterogeneous Surface Heat Flux

Interaction between wind and temperature fields in the planetary boundary layerfor a spatially heterogeneous surface heat flux has been investigated using large-eddysimulation. It is shown that a substantial difference exists in the wind and temperaturefields, depending on whether the directions of the background wind and the surfaceheat flux variation are parallel or perpendicular.When they are parallel to each other, two-dimensional plumes induced by theheterogeneous surface heat flux are easily destroyed by the background wind,and the velocity field is strongly modified by convective eddies compared tothe case when they are perpendicular to each other. This leads to a substantialdifference in the profiles of turbulent kinetic energy and its flux.It also results in a difference between the two cases in the bulk properties of theplanetary boundary layer, such as the entrainment at the top of the planetary boundarylayer and the drag at the bottom, which have important implications for boundary-layermodelling. The difference between the two cases exists even when the background windspeed is as large as 15.0 m s^-1. Meanwhile, the contrast between two cases is weakened by the Coriolis force.