scholarly journals Effects of Moisture in a Two-Layer Model of the Midlatitude Jet Stream

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-147
Author(s):  
Eric Bembenek ◽  
David N. Straub ◽  
Timothy M. Merlis

Abstract The effects of moisture on the energetics of a statistically stationary, baroclinically unstable jet representing the midlatitude atmosphere are examined using a two-layer, β-plane shallow-water model. Flow is driven by a relaxation of the interface between the two layers to a baroclinically unstable profile. Moisture is input to the lower layer by evaporation. When supersaturation occurs, precipitation is triggered and the related latent heat release drives a mass transfer between the two layers. A comparison between dry and moist reference atmospheres shows that precipitation reduces eddy kinetic energy. This is related to the meridional distribution of precipitation, which occurs on the poleward side of the jet (where the interface field is raised). This latitudinal structure of precipitation is related to a correlation between poleward flow and ascent, which is analyzed using a shallow-water analog to the ω equation. The precipitation effect on the energy budget is predominately due to zonal- and time-averaged terms. Because of this, dry simulations in which the thermal forcing is modified to mimic the effect of zonally averaged precipitation are carried out and compared with their precipitating counterparts. These simulations show a similar reduction of baroclinic eddy kinetic energy; however, the barotropic eddy kinetic energy response shows a larger difference.

2013 ◽  
Vol 716 ◽  
pp. 528-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Ribstein ◽  
Vladimir Zeitlin

AbstractWe undertake a detailed analysis of linear stability of geostrophically balanced double density fronts in the framework of the two-layer rotating shallow-water model on the $f$-plane with topography, the latter being represented by an escarpment beneath the fronts. We use the pseudospectral collocation method to identify and quantify different kinds of instabilities resulting from phase locking and resonances of frontal, Rossby, Poincaré and topographic waves. A swap in the leading long-wave instability from the classical barotropic form, resulting from the resonance of two frontal waves, to a baroclinic form, resulting from the resonance of Rossby and frontal waves, takes place with decreasing depth of the lower layer. Nonlinear development and saturation of these instabilities, and of an instability of topographic origin, resulting from the resonance of frontal and topographic waves, are studied and compared with the help of a new-generation well-balanced finite-volume code for multilayer rotating shallow-water equations. The results of the saturation for different instabilities are shown to produce very different secondary coherent structures. The influence of the topography on these processes is highlighted.


2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1265-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomonori Matsuura ◽  
Mitsutaka Fujita

Abstract A two-layer shallow-water model is used to investigate the transition of wind-driven double-gyre circulation from laminar flow to turbulence as the Reynolds number (Re) is systematically increased. Two distinctly different phases of turbulent double-gyre patterns and energy trajectories are exhibited before and after at Re = 95: deterministic and fully developed turbulent circulations. In the former phase, the inertial subgyres vary between an asymmetric solution and an antisymmetric solution and the double-gyre circulations reach the aperiodic solution mainly due to their barotropic instability. An integrated kinetic energy in the lower layer is slight and the generated mesoscale eddies are confined in the upper layer. The power spectrum of energies integrated over the whole domain at Re = 70 has peaks at the interannual periods (4–7 yr) and the interdecadal period (10–20 yr). The loops of the attractors take on one cycle at those periods and display the blue-sky catastrophe. At Re = 95, the double-gyre circulation reaches a metastable state and the attracters obtained from the three energies form a topological manifold. In the latter, as Re increases, the double-gyre varies from a metastable state to a chaotic state because of the barotropic instability of the eastward jet and the baroclinic instability of recirculation retrograde flow, and the eastward jet meanders significantly with interdecadal variability. The generated eddies cascade to the red side of the power spectrum as expected in the geostrophic turbulence. The main results in the simulation may indicate essential mechanisms for the appearance of multiple states of the Kuroshio and for low-frequency variations in the midlatitude ocean.


Abstract In this part II paper we present a fully consistent analytical derivation of the ‘dry’ isentropic 1½-layer shallow water model described and used in part I of this study, with no convection and precipitation. The mathematical derivation presented here is based on a combined asymptotic and slaved Hamiltonian analysis which is used to resolve an apparent inconsistency arising from the application of a rigid-lid approximation to an isentropic two-layer shallow water model. Real observations based on radiosonde data are used to justify the scaling assumptions used throughout the paper, as well as in part I. Eventually, a fully consistent isentropic 1½-layer model emerges from imposing fluid at rest (v1 = 0) and zero Montgomery potential (M1 = 0) in the upper layer of an isentropic two-layer model.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 393-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. DI MARTINO ◽  
P. ORENGA ◽  
M. PEYBERNES

In this paper we present a new approach to describe the behaviour of a pollutant slick at the sea surface. To this end, we consider that the pollutant and the water are immiscible and we propose a two-layer model where the lower layer corresponds to the water and the upper layer represents the pollutant. Since the dimension of the pollutant slick is generally much smaller than the domain occupied by the sea, we propose to compute the motion of the pollutant with a shallow water model with free boundary only in the domain occupied by the pollutant. To discretize in time the problem with free boundary, we use an ALE formulation coupled with the characteristic method. Then, to solve the space discretized problem, we approximate the pollutant velocity by using a Galerkin method with a special basis which verifies the boundary conditions and simplifies significantly the resolution. Finally we test this work in a real situation: the dam of Calacuccia (Corsica).


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1867-1883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Colin de Verdière ◽  
Thierry Huck ◽  
Souren Pogossian ◽  
Michel Ollitrault

AbstractThe vertically integrated potential energy of an incompressible stratified fluid formulated in density coordinates can be simply written as a weighted vertical sum of the squares of the vertical displacements of density surfaces, a general expression valid for arbitrary displacements. The sum of this form of potential energy and kinetic energy is then a conserved quantity for the multilayer shallow water model. The formulation in density coordinates is a natural one to find the Lorenz reference state of available potential energy (APE). We describe the method to compute the APE of an ocean state and provide two applications. The first is the classical double-gyre, wind-driven circulation simulated by a shallow water model at high resolution. We show that the eddy kinetic and eddy potential energies are localized in regions of large gradients of mean APE. These large gradients surround an APE minimum found between the two gyres. The second is the time-mean World Ocean Circulation reconstructed from hydrography (World Ocean Atlas) and reference velocities at 1000 db from the Argo float program to obtain an absolute circulation. The total available potential energy exceeds the total mean kinetic energy of the World Ocean by three orders of magnitude, pointing out the very small Burger number of the circulation. The Gulf Stream, the Kuroshio, the Agulhas retroflection, and the confluence regions are four examples that confirm the shallow water model results that large gradients of mean available potential energy can be used as predictors for the presence of high eddy kinetic energy (obtained here from satellite altimetry).


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 124117
Author(s):  
M. W. Harris ◽  
F. J. Poulin ◽  
K. G. Lamb

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2152
Author(s):  
Gonzalo García-Alén ◽  
Olalla García-Fonte ◽  
Luis Cea ◽  
Luís Pena ◽  
Jerónimo Puertas

2D models based on the shallow water equations are widely used in river hydraulics. However, these models can present deficiencies in those cases in which their intrinsic hypotheses are not fulfilled. One of these cases is in the presence of weirs. In this work we present an experimental dataset including 194 experiments in nine different weirs. The experimental data are compared to the numerical results obtained with a 2D shallow water model in order to quantify the discrepancies that exist due to the non-fulfillment of the hydrostatic pressure hypotheses. The experimental dataset presented can be used for the validation of other modelling approaches.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2054
Author(s):  
Naoki Kuroda ◽  
Katsuhide Yokoyama ◽  
Tadaharu Ishikawa

Our group has studied the spatiotemporal variation of soil and water salinity in an artificial salt marsh along the Arakawa River estuary and developed a practical model for predicting soil salinity. The salinity of the salt marsh and the water level of a nearby channel were measured once a month for 13 consecutive months. The vertical profile of the soil salinity in the salt marsh was measured once monthly over the same period. A numerical flow simulation adopting the shallow water model faithfully reproduced the salinity variation in the salt marsh. Further, we developed a soil salinity model to estimate the soil salinity in a salt marsh in Arakawa River. The vertical distribution of the soil salinity in the salt marsh was uniform and changed at almost the same time. The hydraulic conductivity of the soil, moreover, was high. The uniform distribution of salinity and high hydraulic conductivity could be explained by the vertical and horizontal transport of salinity through channels burrowed in the soil by organisms. By combining the shallow water model and the soil salinity model, the soil salinity of the salt marsh was well reproduced. The above results suggest that a stable brackish ecotone can be created in an artificial salt marsh using our numerical model as a design tool.


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