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We present a proof-of-concept for the adaptive mesh refinement method applied to atmospheric boundary-layer simulations. Such a method may form an attractive alternative to static grids for studies on atmospheric flows that have a high degree of scale separation in space and/or time. Examples include the diurnal cycle and a convective boundary layer capped by a strong inversion. For such cases, large-eddy simulations using regular grids often have to rely on a subgrid-scale closure for the most challenging regions in the spatial and/or temporal domain. Here we analyze a flow configuration that describes the growth and subsequent decay of a convective boundary layer using direct numerical simulation (DNS). We validate the obtained results and benchmark the performance of the adaptive solver against two runs using fixed regular grids. It appears that the adaptive-mesh algorithm is able to coarsen and refine the grid dynamically whilst maintaining an accurate solution. In particular, during the initial growth of the convective boundary layer a high resolution is required compared to the subsequent stage of decaying turbulence. More specifically, the number of grid cells varies by two orders of magnitude over the course of the simulation. For this specific DNS case, the adaptive solver was not yet more efficient than the more traditional solver that is dedicated to these types of flows. However, the overall analysis shows that the method has a clear potential for numerical investigations of the most challenging atmospheric cases.

Good representation of turbulence in urban canopy models is necessary for accurate prediction of momentum and scalar distribution in and above urban canopies. To develop and improve turbulence closure schemes for one-dimensional multi-layer urban canopy models, turbulence characteristics are investigated here by analyzing existing large-eddy simulation and direct numerical simulation data. A range of geometries and flow regimes are analyzed that span packing densities of 0.0625 to 0.44, different building array configurations (cubes and cuboids, aligned and staggered arrays, and variable building height), and different incident wind directions (0∘ and 45∘ with regards to the building face). Momentum mixing-length profiles share similar characteristics across the range of geometries, making a first-order momentum mixing-length turbulence closure a promising approach. In vegetation canopies turbulence is dominated by mixing-layer eddies of a scale determined by the canopy-top shear length scale. No relationship was found between the depth-averaged momentum mixing length within the canopy and the canopy-top shear length scale in the present study. By careful specification of the intrinsic averaging operator in the canopy, an often-overlooked term that accounts for changes in plan area density with height is included in a first-order momentum mixing-length turbulence closure model. For an array of variable-height buildings, its omission leads to velocity overestimation of up to 17%. Additionally, we observe that the von Kármán coefficient varies between 0.20 and 0.51 across simulations, which is the first time such a range of values has been documented. When driving flow is oblique to the building faces, the ratio of dispersive to turbulent momentum flux is larger than unity in the lower half of the canopy, and wake production becomes significant compared to shear production of turbulent momentum flux. It is probable that dispersive momentum fluxes are more significant than previously thought in real urban settings, where the wind direction is almost always oblique.

Based on the 1979–2018 datasets of Climate Prediction Center (CPC) daily maximum air temperature, HadISST, and NCEP-DOE II reanalysis, the impact of Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) on the interdecadal variability in extreme high temperature (EHT) in North China (NC) is investigated through observational analysis and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM5.3) numerical simulations. The observational results show an interdecadal shift in NC’s EHT in approximately 1996 with a cold period from 1983 to 1996 and a warm period from 1997 to 2014. The summer PDO and AMO are both closely related to NC’s EHT, of which AMO dominates. From the cold to warm period, the combination of PDO and AMO changed from a positive PDO (+ PDO) phase and a negative AMO (− AMO) phase to a negative PDO (− PDO) phase and a positive AMO (+ AMO) phase. The shift in the antiphase combination of PDO and AMO plays an important role in the interdecadal transition of NC’s EHT in 1996. PDO could impact NC’s EHT through the Pacific-East Asia teleconnection pattern, and AMO could influence the NC’s EHT through an atmospheric wave train in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. During the warm period (− PDO and + AMO), warmer sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the northern North Pacific (NP) and North Atlantic (NA) could cause anticyclonic circulation anomalies over these two basins. The anticyclonic circulations anomalies over the NP could enhance the anticyclone over NC through the Pacific-East Asian (PEA) teleconnection pattern. It could also cause an easterly wind from the NP to NC which would weaken the upper westerly over NC. The anticyclonic anomalies over the NA, which were parts of the wave train, could affect other sectors of the wave train, resulting in anticyclonic anomalies over NC. The anticyclonic anomalies over NC could strengthen the continental high and weaken the upper zonal westerly, resulting in favorable EHT conditions. During the cold period (+ PDO and − AMO), because of the same atmospheric response mechanism, a westerly wind from NC to NP and a wave train with reversed anomaly centers could be found, causing a cyclonic anomaly over NC that is not conducive to the EHT. A series of numerical simulations using CAM5.3 confirm the above observational results and show that the combination of + PDO and − AMO changing to − PDO and + AMO has a great impact on the interdecadal shift in EHT in NC in 1996. The simulations also show that both + AMO and − PDO can lead the EHT in NC individually, and the impact of AMO on the EHT in NC is dominant.

In the fracture‐conduit‐matrix system, distinct shape differences among water‐conducting channels (fractures and conduits) hinder developing an analytical model for flow characteristics and hydraulic conductivity assessment. To address this, we introduce the elliptic‐conduit‐matrix model (ECMM) under velocity slip interface conditions. This analytical model, adaptable to elliptical axis and matrix permeability variations, can be reduced to fracture‐matrix model, conduit‐matrix model, smooth elliptic (circular) pipes, and smooth fractures. Direct numerical simulations on flow in single, multi, and mixed channel‐matrix systems (varying channel counts and matrix permeabilities) validated the ECMM, demonstrating a higher precision compared to the previous models.

Internal tides (ITs) usually exhibit incoherent characteristics during their propagation. However, estimations of incoherent ITs from different platform (mooring and satellite) observations exhibit discrepancies, partly due to their different sampling intervals and observation durations. Based on 10‐year numerical simulation of ITs near the Luzon Strait, we examine influences of sampling interval and observation duration on the coherent and incoherent characteristics of semidiurnal ITs, that is, the M2 IT steric height and incoherence of semidiurnal ITs in steric height. Results indicate that for 1‐hr interval (typical sampling interval of mooring observations), both the coherent and incoherent characteristics of semidiurnal ITs exhibit convergence with increasing duration. However, for 238‐hr interval (approximate repeating cycle of TOPEX/Poseidon/Jason‐1/Jason‐2 satellites), the coherent characteristic of semidiurnal ITs has a larger bias than that for 1‐hr interval, and this bias does not monotonously decrease with duration; the semidiurnal IT incoherence has a larger uncertainty than that for 1‐hr interval.

Rotation is a fundamental feature of many weather systems. The pressure‐strain correlation plays an important role in the Reynolds stress budget. However, the behavior of the pressure‐strain correlation under rotation remains insufficiently explored. This study develops a closure model for the rotation‐induced pressure‐strain correlation. In rotating boundary layers, quasi two‐dimensional turbulent eddies are identified as key contributors to modulating the magnitude of the pressure‐strain correlation. By involving the anisotropic characteristics of these eddies, the proposed model represents the rotation‐induced pressure‐strain correlation as a function of the turbulence Rossby number and the Reynolds stresses. Direct numerical simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the closure model. The results show that our closure model is in good agreement with direct numerical simulations. These findings provide valuable insights for improving the representation of rotating boundary layers in weather and climate models.

The interior oceans of several icy moons are considered as affected by rotation. Observations suggest a larger heat transport around the poles than at the equator. Rotating Rayleigh‐Bénard convection (RRBC) in planar configuration can show an enhanced heat transport compared to the non‐rotating case within this “rotation‐affected” regime. We investigate the potential for such a (polar) heat transport enhancement in these subglacial oceans by direct numerical simulations of RRBC in spherical geometry for Ra = 106 and 0.7 ≤ Pr ≤ 4.38. We find an enhancement up to 28% in the “polar tangent cylinder,” which is globally compensated by a reduced heat transport at low latitudes. As a result, the polar heat transport can exceed the equatorial by up to 50%. The enhancement is mostly insensitive to different radial gravity profiles, but decreases for thinner shells. In general, polar heat transport and its enhancement in spherical RRBC follow the same principles as in planar RRBC. Plain Language Summary The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn like for example, Europa, Titan, or Enceladus are believed to have a water ocean beneath their ice crust. Several of them show phenomena in their polar regions like active geysers or a thinner crust than at the equator, all of which might be related to a larger heat transport around the poles from the underlying ocean. We simulate the flow dynamics and currents in these subglacial ocean by high‐fidelity simulations, though still at less extreme parameters than in reality, to study the heat transport and provide a possible explanation of such a “polar heat transport enhancement.” We find that the heat transport around the poles can be up to 50% larger than around the equator, and that the believed properties of the icy moons and their oceans would allow polar heat transport enhancement. Therefore, our results may help to improve the understanding of ocean currents and latitudinal variations in the oceanic heat transport and crustal thickness on icy moons. Key Points The polar heat transport in spherical rotating Rayleigh‐Bénard convection experiences an enhancement by rotation The influence of rotation differs at low latitudes: the heat flux is reduced and compensates the polar enhancement on the global average In combination, this strengthens the latitudinal variation between polar and equatorial heat flux for Prandtl numbers larger than unity

Cloud microphysical processes occur at the smallest end of scales among cloud-related processes and thus must be parameterized not only in large-scale global circulation models (GCMs) but also in various higher-resolution limited-area models such as cloud-resolving models (CRMs) and large-eddy simulation (LES) models. Instead of giving a comprehensive review of existing microphysical parameterizations that have been developed over the years, this study concentrates purposely on several topics that we believe are understudied but hold great potential for further advancing bulk microphysics parameterizations: multi-moment bulk microphysics parameterizations and the role of the spectral shape of hydrometeor size distributions; discrete vs “continuous” representation of hydrometeor types; turbulence-microphysics interactions including turbulent entrainment-mixing processes and stochastic condensation; theoretical foundations for the mathematical expressions used to describe hydrometeor size distributions and hydrometeor morphology; and approaches for developing bulk microphysics parameterizations. Also presented are the spectral bin scheme and particle-based scheme (especially, super-droplet method) for representing explicit microphysics. Their advantages and disadvantages are elucidated for constructing cloud models with detailed microphysics that are essential to developing processes understanding and bulk microphysics parameterizations. Particle-resolved direct numerical simulation (DNS) models are described as an emerging technique to investigate turbulence-microphysics interactions at the most fundamental level by tracking individual particles and resolving the smallest turbulent eddies in turbulent clouds. Outstanding challenges and future research directions are explored as well.

The migration of fluids, such as aqueous fluids and melts, is often channelized and crucial for trace element transport. However, trace elements typically migrate slower than the fluid due to partitioning between solid and fluid phases, known as retardation. The influence of channelization intensity on trace element retardation remains poorly quantified. Here, we use two‐dimensional numerical simulations to investigate trace element transport during compaction‐driven flow involving porosity waves and channelization caused by decompaction weakening. We employ a small‐amplitude porosity perturbation to study fluid segregation. A data collapse of systematic numerical results quantifies how the increase in channelization intensity cancels out the decrease in trace element transport caused by retardation, showing that channelized porosity waves enable segregated trace element mass transport. We illustrate changes of trace element distributions during fluid migration using multi‐element (spider) and ternary diagrams as well as trace element profiles across channels.

Entrainment in cumulus convection remains ill understood and difficult to quantify. For instance, entrainment is widely believed to be a fundamentally turbulent process, even though Turner pointed out in 1957 that dry thermals entrain primarily because of buoyancy (via a dynamical constraint requiring an increase in radius r). Furthermore, entrainment has been postulated to obey a 1/r scaling, but this scaling has not been firmly established. Here, we study the classic case of dry thermals in a neutrally stratified environment using fully resolved direct numerical simulation. We combine this with a thermal tracking algorithm that defines a control volume for the thermal at each time, allowing us to directly measure entrainment. We vary the Reynolds number (Re) of our thermals between laminar (Re ≈ 600) and turbulent (Re ≈ 6000) regimes, finding only a 20% variation in entrainment rate ε, supporting the claim that turbulence is not necessary for entrainment. We also directly verify the postulated ε ~ 1/r scaling law.