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Dale R. Durran
and
Peter N. Blossey

Abstract

Implicit–explicit (IMEX) linear multistep methods are examined with respect to their suitability for the integration of fast-wave–slow-wave problems in which the fast wave has relatively low amplitude and need not be accurately simulated. The widely used combination of trapezoidal implicit and leapfrog explicit differencing is compared to schemes based on Adams methods or on backward differencing. Two new families of methods are proposed that have good stability properties in fast-wave–slow-wave problems: one family is based on Adams methods and the other on backward schemes. Here the focus is primarily on four specific schemes drawn from these two families: a pair of Adams methods and a pair of backward methods that are either (i) optimized for third-order accuracy in the explicit component of the full IMEX scheme, or (ii) employ particularly good schemes for the implicit component. These new schemes are superior, in many respects, to the linear multistep IMEX schemes currently in use.

The behavior of these schemes is compared theoretically in the context of the simple oscillation equation and also for the linearized equations governing stratified compressible flow. Several schemes are also tested in fully nonlinear simulations of gravity waves generated by a localized source in a shear flow.

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Dale R. Durran
and
Peter N. Blossey
Full access
Peter N. Blossey
,
Christopher S. Bretherton
, and
Johannes Mohrmann

Abstract

The goal of this study is to challenge a large-eddy simulation model with a range of observations from a modern field campaign and to develop case studies useful to other modelers. The 2015 Cloud System Evolution in the Trades (CSET) field campaign provided a wealth of in situ and remote sensing observations of subtropical cloud transitions in the summertime northeast Pacific. Two Lagrangian case studies based on these observations are used to validate the thermodynamic, radiative, and microphysical properties of large-eddy simulations (LES) of the stratocumulus to cumulus transition. The two cases contrast a relatively fast cloud transition in a clean, initially well-mixed boundary layer versus a slower transition in an initially decoupled boundary layer with higher aerosol concentrations and stronger mean subsidence. For each case, simulations of two neighboring trajectories sample mesoscale variability and the coherence of the transition in adjacent air masses. In both cases, LES broadly reproduce satellite and aircraft observations of the transition. Simulations of the first case match observations more closely than for the second case, where simulations underestimate cloud cover early in the simulations and overestimate cloud top height later. For the first case, simulated cloud fraction and liquid water path increase if a larger cloud droplet number concentration is prescribed. In the second case, precipitation onset and inversion cloud breakup occur earlier when the LES domain is chosen to be large enough to support strong mesoscale organization.

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