Stochastic Subgrid Parameterizations for Simulations of Atmospheric Baroclinic Flows

Abstract

A stochastic subgrid modeling method is used to parameterize horizontal and vertical subgrid-scale transfers in large-eddy simulations (LESs) of baroclinic flows with large-scale jets and energy spectra typical of the atmosphere. The approach represents the subgrid-scale eddies for LES (at resolutions of T63 and T31) by a stochastic model that takes into account the memory effects of turbulent eddies. The statistics of the model are determined from a higher-resolution (T126) direct numerical simulation (DNS). The simulations use a quasigeostrophic two-level model and the subgrid terms are inhomogeneous in the vertical and anisotropic in the horizontal and are represented by 2 ? 2 matrices at each wavenumber. The parameterizations have the largest magnitudes at a cusp near the largest total wavenumbers of the truncations. At T63 the off-diagonal elements of the matrices are negligible (corresponding to effectively decoupled levels) and the diagonal elements are almost isotropic. At the lower resolution of T31 the off-diagonal elements are more important and even the diagonal elements are more anisotropic. At both resolutions, and for anisotropic or isotropized subgrid terms, LESs are in excellent agreement with higher-resolution DNS.