Mass-Consistent Wind Model as a Meteorological Preprocessor for Tracer Transport Models

Abstract

Atmospheric transport models usually require the mass conservation of the advective meteorological field. Even if the advection field is provided by sophisticated initialization or prediction models of meteorological centers, some mass imbalance may be introduced when the data are converted to the grid system specific to each tracer transport model. The mass-consistent wind model described here is used to impose mass continuity on the meteorological field, which is converted to a new grid system. The model is formulated in map coordinates. In the vertical, a terrain-following height coordinate is used. The model is unique in that a compressible continuity equation is used as a strong constraint, and in that the map scale factor, which is associated with conformal mapping, is incorporated. The weight on the adjustment of each wind component can be a spatial function. Some testing results of the model and an application are presented.