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Nested Large-Eddy Simulations of the Displacement of a Cold-Air Pool by Lee Vortices

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Abstract

Mesoscale simulations are typically performed at coarse resolutions that do not adequately represent underlying topography; nesting large-eddy simulations within a mesoscale model can better resolve terrain and hence capture topographically-induced stable flow phenomena. In the case of the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modelling and Observations (MATERHORN) program, large temperature fluctuations were observed on the slope of Granite Peak, Utah, which partially encloses a cold-air pool in the east basin. These flow features are able to be resolved using large-eddy simulation within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with \(\Delta x = 100\) m, allowing accurate representation of lee vortices with horizontal length scale of \({\mathcal {O}}\)(1 km). At this resolution, terrain slopes become quite steep, and some model warm biases remain in the east basin due to limits on terrain-following coordinates that prevent the model from fully resolving drainage flows with this steep terrain. A new timestep limit for the WRF model related to these steep slopes is proposed. In addition, the initialization of soil moisture is adjusted by drying the shallowest layer to assist the formation of a cold pool in the large-eddy simulation. These real case simulations compare well to observations and also to previously published simulations using idealized configurations to study similar phenomena. For instance, the values of non-dimensional mountain height, which characterize flow regimes in idealized studies, are similar in the real case.

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Acknowledgements

The MATERHORN Program was funded by the Office of Naval Research MURI Award N00014-11-1-0709 (Program Officers: Drs. Ronald Ferek and Daniel Eleuterio), with additional funding from the Army Research Office (Program Officers: Gordon Videen and Walter Bach), Air Force Weather Agency, Research Offices of University of Notre Dame and University of Utah, and Wayne and Diana Murdy Family Endowment at Notre Dame. We thank the MATERHORN field team and Dugway Proving Ground staff. Simulations were performed on the UC Berkeley Savio computing cluster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 205 O’Brien Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, US

    Alex Connolly

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, US

    Fotini Katopodes Chow

  3. Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US

    Sebastian W. Hoch

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  1. Alex Connolly
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  2. Fotini Katopodes Chow
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  3. Sebastian W. Hoch
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Correspondence to Alex Connolly.

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Connolly, A., Chow, F.K. & Hoch, S.W. Nested Large-Eddy Simulations of the Displacement of a Cold-Air Pool by Lee Vortices. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 178, 91–118 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-020-00561-6

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