Evolution of Small-Scale Filaments in an Adaptive Advection Model for Idealized Tracer Transport

Abstract

The formation of small-scale filaments in a novel two-dimensional adaptive tracer transport model is investigated. The numerical model is based on a semi-Lagrangian advection scheme, and an adaptively and locally refined triangular mesh. The adaptive modeling approach allows very high local resolution, showing fine-grained filamentation under the influence of gradients in the wind field. Wind data for the tracer transport experiment are taken from the high-resolution regional climate model for the Arctic atmosphere, HIRHAM. The influence of horizontal advection model resolution and varying wind data resolution has been investigated.