Comparison of nonhydrostatic and hydrostatic dynamical cores in two regional models using the spectral and finite difference methods: dry atmosphere simulation

The spectral method is generally assumed to provide better numerical accuracy than the finite difference method. However, the majority of regional models use finite discretization methods due to the difficulty of specifying time-dependent lateral boundary conditions in spectral models. This study evaluates the behavior of nonhydrostatic dynamics with a spectral discretization. To this end, Juang’s nonhydrostatic dynamical core for the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) regional spectral model has been implemented into the Regional Model Program (RMP) of the Global/Regional Integrated Model system (GRIMs). The behavior of the nonhydrostatic RMP is validated, and compared with that of the hydrostatic core in 2-D idealized experiments: the mountain wave, rising thermal bubble, and density current experiments. The nonhydrostatic effect in the RMP is further validated in comparison with the results from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which uses a finite difference method. The analyses of the experimental results from the RMP generally follow the characteristics found in previous studies without any discernible difference. For example, in both the RMP and the WRF model, the eastward-tilted propagation of mountain waves is very similar in the nonhydrostatic core experiments. Both nonhydrostatic models also efficiently reproduce the motion and deformation of the warm and cold bubbles, but the RMP results contain more small-scale noise. In a 1-km real-case simulation testbed, the lee waves that originate over the eastern flank of the Korean peninsula travel further eastward in the WRF model than in the RMP. It is found that differences of small-scale wave characteristics between the RMP and WRF model are mainly from the numerical techniques used, such as the accuracy of the advection scheme and the magnitude of the numerical diffusion, rather than from discrepancies in the spatial discretization.