title: Large eddy simulation of the atmosphere on various scales.
abstract: Numerical simulations of the atmosphere are routinely carried out on various scales for purposes ranging from weather forecasts for local areas a few hours ahead to forecasts of climate change over periods of hundreds of years. Almost without exception, these forecasts are made with space/time-averaged versions of the governing Navier-Stokes equations and laws of thermodynamics, together with additional terms representing internal and boundary forcing. The calculations are a form of large eddy modelling, because the subgrid-scale processes have to be modelled. In the global atmospheric models used for long-term predictions, the primary method is implicit large eddy modelling, using discretization to perform the averaging, supplemented by specialized subgrid models, where there is organized small-scale activity, such as in the lower boundary layer and near active convection. Smaller scale models used for local or short-range forecasts can use a much smaller averaging scale. This allows some of the specialized subgrid models to be dropped in favour of direct simulations. In research mode, the same models can be run as a conventional large eddy simulation only a few orders of magnitude away from a direct simulation. These simulations can then be used in the development of the subgrid models for coarser resolution models.
authors.affiliation: Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK.
authors.forename: M J P
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Brown