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Modulation of internal gravity waves in a multiscale model for deep convection on mesoscales
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2010-08-01
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Volume
67
Issue
8
Start Page
2504
End Page
2519
Citation
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 67 (8): 2504-2519 (2010-08-01)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Peer Reviewed
true
Starting from the conservation laws for mass, momentum, and energy together with a three-species bulk microphysics model, a model for the interaction of internal gravity waves and deep convective hot towers is derived using multiscale asymptotic techniques. From the leading-order equations, a closed model for the large-scale flow is obtained analytically by applying horizontal averages conditioned on the small-scale hot towers. No closure approximations are required besides adopting the asymptotic limit regime on which the analysis is based. The resulting model is an extension of the anelastic equations linearized about a constant background flow. Moist processes enter through the area fraction of saturated regions and through two additional dynamic equations describing the coupled evolution of the conditionally averaged small-scale vertical velocity and buoyancy.Atwo-way coupling between the large-scale dynamics and these small-scale quantities is obtained: moisture reduces the effective stability for the large-scale flow, and microscale up-and downdrafts define a large-scale averaged potential temperature source term. In turn, large-scale vertical velocities induce small-scale potential temperature fluctuations due to the discrepancy in effective stability between saturated and nonsaturated regions. The dispersion relation and group velocity of the system are analyzed and moisture is found to have several effects: (i) it reduces vertical energy transport by waves, (ii) it increases vertical wavenumbers but decreases the slope at which wave packets travel, (iii) it introduces a new lower horizontal cutoff wavenumber in addition to the well-known high wavenumber cutoff, and (iv)moisture can cause critical layers. Numerical examples reveal the effects of moisture on steady-state and time-dependent mountain waves in the present hot-tower regime. © 2010 American Meteorological Society.
Subjects
Convection
Gravity waves
Interenal waves
Mesoscale processes
Moisture