Development of a Two-Dimensional Zonally Averaged Statistical-Dynamical Model. Part III: The Parameterization of the Eddy Fluxes of Heat and Moisture

Abstract

A number of perpetual January simulations are carried out with a two-dimensional (2-D) zonally averaged model employing various parameterizations of the eddy fluxes of heat (potential temperature) and moisture. The parameterizations are evaluated by comparing these results with the eddy fluxes calculated in a parallel simulation using a three-dimensional (3-D) general circulation model with zonally symmetric forcing. The 3-D model's performance in turn is evaluated by comparing its results using realistic (nonsymmetric) boundary conditions with observations. Branscome's parameterization of the meridional eddy flux of heat and Leovy's parameterization of the meridional eddy flux of moisture simulate the seasonal and latitudinal variations of these fluxes reasonably well, while somewhat underestimating their magnitudes. In particular, Branscome's parameterization underestimates the vertically integrated flux of heat by about 30%, mainly because it misses out the secondary peak in this flux near the tropopause; and Leovy's parameterization of the meridional eddy flux of moisture underestimates the magnitude of this flux by about 20%. The analogous parameterizations of the vertical eddy fluxes of heat and moisture are found to perform much more poorly, i.e., they give fluxes only one quarter to one half as strong as those calculated in the 3-D model. New parameterizations of the vertical eddy fluxes are developed that take into account the enhancement of the eddy mixing slope in a growing baroclinic wave due to condensation, and also the effect of eddy fluctuations in relative humidity. The new parameterizations, when tested in the 2-D model, simulate the seasonal, latitudinal, and vertical variations of the vertical eddy fluxes quite well, when compared with the 3-D model, and only underestimate the magnitude of the fluxes by 10% to 20%.