Numerical Assessment of Advective and Diffusive Dynamics of Interacting and Isolated Prototypical Convectively Initiated Circulations

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Main Authors: Igel, Matthew R., Biello, Joseph A., Igel, Adele L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Igel, Matthew R.
Biello, Joseph A.
Igel, Adele L.
author_facet Igel, Matthew R.
Biello, Joseph A.
Igel, Adele L.
contents The bulk circulation associated with convective clouds includes not only a region of updraft and cloudy air but also a region of compensating descent and cloud-free air and horizontal motions coupling these regions. The Kinematic Representation of Non-rotating Updraft Tori (KRoNUT) model is a simple representation of this entire flow. First, the skill of the KRoNUT in representing flows from a high resolution full-physics simulation of marine tropical convection is compared to various plume representations of convection. Then the KRoNUT is used to construct bulk descriptions of the dry dynamics of isolated and interacting convective circulations under the influence of advection and diffusion (only). Cross sections of advective and diffusive tendencies show that while vertical advection of the vertical wind is the most important advective tendency in clouds, the horizontal component of the convective circulation and advection thereof plays a crucial role in the evolution of circulations in the absence of buoyancy. Strong curvature of the flow near the surface and near the updraft core results in locally strong diffusive tendencies that depend on scale. Cross sections of tendencies from the KRoNUT compare favourably to results from the simulation. Interacting circulations are shown to exhibit a wide range of dynamics with some cases of interactions leading to unique stability of geometric properties of otherwise evolving flows and some leading to geometric clustering of circulation centers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_11828
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Numerical Assessment of Advective and Diffusive Dynamics of Interacting and Isolated Prototypical Convectively Initiated Circulations
Igel, Matthew R.
Biello, Joseph A.
Igel, Adele L.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Computational Physics
Fluid Dynamics
The bulk circulation associated with convective clouds includes not only a region of updraft and cloudy air but also a region of compensating descent and cloud-free air and horizontal motions coupling these regions. The Kinematic Representation of Non-rotating Updraft Tori (KRoNUT) model is a simple representation of this entire flow. First, the skill of the KRoNUT in representing flows from a high resolution full-physics simulation of marine tropical convection is compared to various plume representations of convection. Then the KRoNUT is used to construct bulk descriptions of the dry dynamics of isolated and interacting convective circulations under the influence of advection and diffusion (only). Cross sections of advective and diffusive tendencies show that while vertical advection of the vertical wind is the most important advective tendency in clouds, the horizontal component of the convective circulation and advection thereof plays a crucial role in the evolution of circulations in the absence of buoyancy. Strong curvature of the flow near the surface and near the updraft core results in locally strong diffusive tendencies that depend on scale. Cross sections of tendencies from the KRoNUT compare favourably to results from the simulation. Interacting circulations are shown to exhibit a wide range of dynamics with some cases of interactions leading to unique stability of geometric properties of otherwise evolving flows and some leading to geometric clustering of circulation centers.
title Numerical Assessment of Advective and Diffusive Dynamics of Interacting and Isolated Prototypical Convectively Initiated Circulations
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Computational Physics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11828