scholarly journals Inertia–gravity waves generated by near balanced flow in 2-layer shallow water turbulence on the β-plane

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Wirth

Abstract. Using a fine resolution numerical model (40002 × 2 grid-points) of the two-layer shallow-water equations of the mid-latitude β-plane dynamics, it is shown that there is no sudden breakdown of balance in the turbulent enstrophy cascade but a faint and continuous emission of inertia–gravity waves. The wave energy accumulates in the equator-ward region of the domain due to the Coriolis parameter depending on the latitude and dispersion relation of inertia–gravity waves.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 355-366
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Shashkin ◽  
Gordey S. Goyman

AbstractThis paper proposes the combination of matrix exponential method with the semi-Lagrangian approach for the time integration of shallow water equations on the sphere. The second order accuracy of the developed scheme is shown. Exponential semi-Lagrangian scheme in the combination with spatial approximation on the cubed-sphere grid is verified using the standard test problems for shallow water models. The developed scheme is as good as the conventional semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian scheme in accuracy of slowly varying flow component reproduction and significantly better in the reproduction of the fast inertia-gravity waves. The accuracy of inertia-gravity waves reproduction is close to that of the explicit time-integration scheme. The computational efficiency of the proposed exponential semi-Lagrangian scheme is somewhat lower than the efficiency of semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian scheme, but significantly higher than the efficiency of explicit, semi-implicit, and exponential Eulerian schemes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 204-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Barth ◽  
Jean-Marie Beckers ◽  
Aida Alvera-Azcárate ◽  
Robert H. Weisberg

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1735-1748 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. T. M. Verkley

Abstract A global version of the equivalent barotropic vorticity equation is derived for the one-layer shallow-water equations on a sphere. The equation has the same form as the corresponding beta plane version, but with one important difference: the stretching (Cressman) term in the expression of the potential vorticity retains its full dependence on f 2, where f is the Coriolis parameter. As a check of the resulting system, the dynamics of linear Rossby waves are considered. It is shown that these waves are rather accurate approximations of the westward-propagating waves of the second class of the original shallow-water equations. It is also concluded that for Rossby waves with short meridional wavelengths the factor f 2 in the stretching term can be replaced by the constant value f02, where f0 is the Coriolis parameter at ±45° latitude.


2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 4417-4431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Snyder ◽  
David J. Muraki ◽  
Riwal Plougonven ◽  
Fuqing Zhang

Abstract Vortex dipoles provide a simple representation of localized atmospheric jets. Numerical simulations of a synoptic-scale dipole in surface potential temperature are considered in a rotating, stratified fluid with approximately uniform potential vorticity. Following an initial period of adjustment, the dipole propagates along a slightly curved trajectory at a nearly steady rate and with a nearly fixed structure for more than 50 days. Downstream from the jet maximum, the flow also contains smaller-scale, upward-propagating inertia–gravity waves that are embedded within and stationary relative to the dipole. The waves form elongated bows along the leading edge of the dipole. Consistent with propagation in horizontal deformation and vertical shear, the waves’ horizontal scale shrinks and the vertical slope varies as they approach the leading stagnation point in the dipole’s flow. Because the waves persist for tens of days despite explicit dissipation in the numerical model that would otherwise damp the waves on a time scale of a few hours, they must be inherent features of the dipole itself, rather than remnants of imbalances in the initial conditions. The wave amplitude varies with the strength of the dipole, with waves becoming obvious once the maximum vertical vorticity in the dipole is roughly half the Coriolis parameter. Possible mechanisms for the wave generation are spontaneous wave emission and the instability of the underlying balanced dipole.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costanza Rodda ◽  
Uwe Harlander

<p>Inertia-gravity waves (IGWs) are known to play an essential role in the terrestrial atmospheric dynamics as they can lead to energy and momentum flux when they propagate upwards. An open question is to which extent nearly linear IGWs contribute to the total energy and to flattening of the energy spectrum observed at the mesoscale.<br>In this work, we present an experimental investigation of the energy distribution between the large-scale balanced flow and the small-scale imbalanced flow. Weakly nonlinear IGWs emitted from baroclinic jets are observed in the differentially heated rotating annulus experiment. Similar to the atmospheric spectra, the experimental kinetic energy spectra reveal the typical subdivision into two distinct regimes with slopes <em>k</em><sup>-3</sup> for the large scales and <em>k<sup>-</sup></em><sup>5/3</sup> for smaller scales. By separating the spectra into a vortex and wave part, it emerges that at the largest scales in the mesoscale range the gravity waves observed in the experiment cause a flattening of the spectra and provide most of the energy. At smaller scales, our data analysis suggests a transition towards a turbulent regime with a forward energy cascade up to where dissipation by diffusive processes occurs.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 71-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Thomas ◽  
Ray Yamada

Recent evidence from both oceanic observations and global-scale ocean model simulations indicate the existence of regions where low-mode internal tidal energy dominates over that of the geostrophic balanced flow. Inspired by these findings, we examine the effect of the first vertical mode inertia–gravity waves on the dynamics of balanced flow using an idealized model obtained by truncating the hydrostatic Boussinesq equations on to the barotropic and the first baroclinic mode. On investigating the wave–balance turbulence phenomenology using freely evolving numerical simulations, we find that the waves continuously transfer energy to the balanced flow in regimes where the balanced-to-wave energy ratio is small, thereby generating small-scale features in the balanced fields. We examine the detailed energy transfer pathways in wave-dominated flows and thereby develop a generalized small Rossby number geophysical turbulence phenomenology, with the two-mode (barotropic and one baroclinic mode) quasi-geostrophic turbulence phenomenology being a subset of it. The present work therefore shows that inertia–gravity waves would form an integral part of the geophysical turbulence phenomenology in regions where balanced flow is weaker than gravity waves.


2012 ◽  
Vol 706 ◽  
pp. 71-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noé Lahaye ◽  
Vladimir Zeitlin

AbstractWe study formation and properties of new coherent structures: ageostrophic modons in the two-layer rotating shallow water model. The ageostrophic modons are obtained by ‘ageostrophic adjustment’ of the exact modon solutions of the two-layer quasi-geostrophic equations with the free surface, which are used to initialize the full two-layer shallow water model. Numerical simulations are performed using a well-balanced high-resolution finite volume numerical scheme. For large enough Rossby numbers, the initial configurations undergo ageostrophic adjustment towards asymmetric ageostrophic quasi-stationary coherent dipoles. This process is accompanied by substantial emission of inertia–gravity waves. The resulting dipole is shown to be robust and survives frontal collisions. It contains captured inertia–gravity waves and, for higher Rossby numbers and weak stratification, carries a (baroclinic) hydraulic jump at its axis. For stronger stratifications and high enough Rossby numbers, ‘rider’ coherent structures appear as a result of adjustment, with a monopole in one layer and a dipole in another. Other ageostrophic coherent structures, such as two-layer tripoles and two-layer modons with nonlinear scatter plot, result from the collisions of ageostrophic modons. They are shown to be long-living and robust, and to capture waves.


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