Atmospheric

models

Pave Pili

Atmospheric model
An atmospheric model is a mathematical model constructed around the full set
of primitive dynamical equations which govern atmospheric motions. It can supplement these
equations with parameterizations for turbulent diffusion, radiation, moist
processes (clouds and precipitation), heat exchange, soil, vegetation, surface water,
thekinematic effects of terrain, and convection. Most atmospheric models are numerical, i.e. they
discretize equations of motion. They can predict microscale phenomena such
as tornadoes and boundary layer eddies, sub-microscale turbulent flow over buildings, as well as
synoptic and global flows. The horizontal domain of a model is either global, covering the
entire Earth, or regional (limited-area), covering only part of the Earth. The different types of
models run are thermotropic, barotropic, hydrostatic, and nonhydrostatic. Some of the model
types make assumptions about the atmosphere which lengthens the time steps used and
increases computational speed.
Forecasts are computed using mathematical equations for the physics and dynamics of the
atmosphere. These equations are nonlinear and are impossible to solve exactly. Therefore,
numerical methods obtain approximate solutions. Different models use different solution methods.
Global models often use spectral methods for the horizontal dimensions and finite-difference
methods for the vertical dimension, while regional models usually use finite-difference methods in
all three dimensions. For specific locations, model output statistics use climate information, output
from numerical weather prediction, and current surface weather observations to develop
statistical relationships which account for model bias and resolution issues.
Types:
1.Static atmospheric models
2. Weather prediction and climate models

Static atmospheric models

Static atmospheric models describe how the ideal gas properties (namely: pressure,
temperature, density, and molecular weight) of an atmosphere change, primarily as a function
of altitude. The World Meteorological Organization defines a standard atmosphere as "a
hypothetical vertical distribution of atmospheric temperature, pressure and density which, by
international agreement, is roughly representative of year-round, midlatitude conditions. Typical
usages are as a basis for pressure altimeter calibrations, aircraft performance calculations,
aircraft and rocket design, ballistic tables, and meteorological diagrams."[1]

For example, the US Standard Atmosphere derives the values for air temperature, pressure, and
mass density, as a function of altitude above sea level.

The gas which comprises an atmosphere is usually assumed to be an ideal gas, which is to say:

Where is mass density, M is average molecular weight, P is pressure, T is temperature,

and R is the ideal gas constant.
The gas is held in place by so-called "hydrostatic" forces. That is to say, for a particular layer of
gas at some altitude: the downward (towards the planet) force of its weight, the downward force
exerted by pressure in the layer above it, and the upward force exerted by pressure in the layer
below, all sum to zero. Mathematically this is:

Ocean example
If the density of a gas is persistent, then it isn't really behaving like a gas. Instead it is
impersonating like an incompressible fluid, or liquid, and this situation looks more like an ocean.
Assuming density is constant, then a graph of pressure vs altitude will have a retained slope,
since the weight of the ocean over head is directly proportional to its depth.

Isothermal-barotropic approximation and

scale height
This atmospheric model assumes both molecular weight and temperature are constant over a
wide range of altitude. Such a model may be called isothermal (constant temperature). Inserting
constant molecular weight and constant temperature into the equation for the ideal gas
law produces the result that density and pressure, the two remaining variables, depend only on
each other. For this reason, this model may also be called barotropic (density depends only on
pressure).
For the isothermal-barotropic model, density and pressure turn out to be exponential functions of
altitude. The increase in altitude necessary for P or to drop to 1/e of its initial value is called
the scale height:

where R is the ideal gas constant, T is temperature, M is average molecular weight, and g0 is the
gravitational acceleration at the planet's surface. Using the values T=273 K and M=29 g/mol as

characteristic of the Earth's atmosphere, H = RT/Mg = (8.315*273)/(29*9.8) = 7.99, or about

8 km, which coincidentally is approximate height of Mt. Everest.
For an isothermal atmosphere, about 63% of the total mass of the atmosphere exists between
the planet's surface and one scale height. (The total air mass below a certain altitude is
calculated by integrating over the density function.)
For the ocean example there was a sharp transition in density at the top or "surface" of the
ocean. However for atmospheres made of gas there is no equivalent sharp transition or edge.
Gas atmospheres simply get less and less dense until they're so thin that they're space.

International standard atmosphere

The International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) is an atmospheric model of how
the pressure, temperature, density, and viscosity of the Earth's atmosphere change over a wide
range of altitudes or elevations. It has been established to provide a common reference for
temperature and pressure and consists of tables of values at various altitudes, plus some
formulas by which those values were derived.
The ISA mathematical model divides the atmosphere into layers with an assumed linear
distribution of absolute temperature T against geopotential altitude h. The other two values
(pressure P and density ) are computed by simultaneously solving the equations resulting from:

the vertical pressure variation, which relates pressure, density and geopotential altitude
(using a standard pressure of 101,325 pascals (14.696 psi) at mean sea level as a boundary
condition):

the ideal gas law in molar form, which relates pressure, density, and temperature:

Weather prediction and climate models

The atmosphere is a fluid. As such, the idea of numerical weather prediction is to sample the
state of the fluid at a given time and use the equations of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics to
estimate the state of the fluid at some time in the future. On land, terrain maps, available at
resolutions down to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) globally, are used to help model atmospheric
circulations within regions of rugged topography, in order to better depict features such as
downslope winds, mountain waves, and related cloudiness which affects incoming solar
radiation. The main inputs from country-based weather services are surface observations from
automated weather stations at ground level over land and from weather buoys at sea. The World
Meteorological Organization acts to standardize the instrumentation, observing practices and
timing of these observations worldwide. Stations either report hourly in METAR reports, or every
six hours in SYNOP reports. Models are initialized using this observed data. The irregularly
spaced observations are processed by data assimilation and objective analysis methods, which
perform quality control and obtain values at locations usable by the model's mathematical
algorithms.

The main assumption made by the thermotropic model is that while the magnitude of
the thermal wind may change, its direction does not change with respect to height, and thus
the baroclinicity in the atmosphere can be simulated using the 500 mb (15 inHg) and 1,000 mb
(30 inHg) geopotential height surfaces and the average thermal wind between them.

Barotropic models assume the atmosphere is nearly barotropic, which means that the direction
and speed of the geostrophic wind are independent of height. In other words, no vertical wind
shear of the geostrophic wind. It also implies that thickness contours (a proxy for temperature)
are parallel to upper level height contours. In this type of atmosphere, high and low pressure
areas are centers of warm and cold temperature anomalies. Warm-core highs (such as
the subtropical ridge and Bermuda-Azores high) and cold-core lows have strengthening winds
with height, with the reverse true for cold-core highs (shallow arctic highs) and warm-core lows
(such as tropical cyclones).[3] A barotropic model tries to solve a simplified form of atmospheric
dynamics based on the assumption that the atmosphere is in geostrophic balance; that is, that
theRossby number of the air in the atmosphere is small. If the assumption is made that the
atmosphere is divergence-free, the curl of the Euler equations reduces into the barotropic vorticity
equation. This latter equation can be solved over a single layer of the atmosphere. Since the
atmosphere at a height of approximately 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) is mostly divergence-free, the
barotropic model best approximates the state of the atmosphere at a geopotential
height corresponding to that altitude, which corresponds to the atmosphere's 500 mb (15 inHg)
pressure surface.
Hydrostatic models filter out vertically moving acoustic waves from the vertical momentum
equation, which significantly increases the time step used within the model's run. This is known
as the hydrostatic approximation. Hydrostatic models use either pressure or sigmapressure vertical coordinates. Pressure coordinates intersect topography while sigma coordinates
follow the contour of the land. Its hydrostatic assumption is reasonable as long as horizontal grid
resolution is not small, which is a scale where the hydrostatic assumption fails. Models which use
the entire vertical momentum equation are known asnonhydrostatic. A nonhydrostatic model
can be solved anelastically, meaning it solves the complete continuity equation for air assuming it
is incompressible, or elastically, meaning it solves the complete continuity equation for air and is
fully compressible. Nonhydrostatic models use altitude or sigma altitude for their vertical
coordinates. Altitude coordinates can intersect land while sigma-altitude coordinates follow the
contours of the land.