Impacts of the horizontal and vertical grids on the numerical solutions of the dynamical equations - Part 2: Quasi-geostrophic Rossby modes

Abstract

We use a normal-mode analysis to investigate the impacts of the horizontal and vertical discretizations on the numerical solutions of the quasi-geostrophic anelastic baroclinic and barotropic Rossby modes on a midlatitude β plane. The dispersion equations are derived for the linearized anelastic system, discretized on the Z, C, D, CD, (DC), A, E and B horizontal grids, and on the L and CP vertical grids. The effects of various horizontal grid spacings and vertical wavenumbers are discussed. A companion paper, Part 1, discusses the impacts of the discretization on the inertia-gravity modes on a midlatitude f plane. The results of our normal-mode analyses for the Rossby waves overall support the conclusions of the previous studies obtained with the shallow-water equations. We identify an area of disagreement with the E-grid solution.