Estimation of the Variability of Mesoscale Energy Spectra with Three Years of COSMO-DE Analyses

Abstract

Research on the mesoscale kinetic energy spectrum over the past few decades has focused on finding a dynamical mechanism that gives rise to a universal spectral slope. Here we investigate the variability of the spectrum using 3 years of kilometer-resolution analyses from COSMO configured for Germany (COSMO-DE). It is shown that the mesoscale kinetic energy spectrum is highly variable in time but that a minimum in variability is found on scales around 100 km. The high variability found on the small-scale end of the spectrum (around 10 km) is positively correlated with the precipitation rate where convection is a strong source of variance. On the other hand, variability on the large-scale end (around 1000 km) is correlated with the potential vorticity, as expected for geostrophically balanced flows. Accordingly, precipitation at small scales is more highly correlated with divergent kinetic energy, and potential vorticity at large scales is more highly correlated with rotational kinetic energy. The presented findings suggest that the spectral slope and amplitude on the mesoscale range are governed by an ever-changing combination of the upscale and downscale impacts of these large- and small-scale dynamical processes rather than by a universal, intrinsically mesoscale dynamical mechanism.