This research makes an attempt at developing low-order models (LOMs) that inherit fundamental conservation properties of the fluid dynamical equations, thereby exhibiting sound physical behavior. The new LOMs of 3D flows incorporate different physical mechanisms to enhance our understanding of convective phenomena observed in marine boundary layers (MBLs). Consideration in convective MBLs will address the geometry (2D rolls versus 3D cells), circulation direction (open vs. closed cells), and unique transitional convective patterns such as actiniae cloud formations. Physical mechanisms incorporated into the LOMs are a) heat flux, b) large-scale vertical motion, c) cyclonic vs. anticyclonic background vorticity, and d) vertical shear in the horizontal wind.
Additionally, time series originating from physically sound nonlinear LOMs will be explored as a valuable complement to those generated by the more traditional (stochastic) models. The expectation is that the former will become more useful in various studies of atmospheric dynamics than commonly used all-purpose ones borrowed from standard time series analysis.
Intellectual merit The concepts and methods developed in this study will enhance our understanding of geophysical fluid dynamics phenomena, and in particular mesoscale convection in MBLs. Success in this project will also promote a greater insight into the nature of the interacting roles of statistics and nonlinear dynamics in atmospheric studies.
Broader impacts The research may have broader impacts on many areas within the atmospheric and related sciences since it brings into focus a viable tool (other than numerical simulation) for addressing physical phenomena described by nonlinear partial differential equations. This research also addresses in many ways an emerging new field of science, commonly referred as "complexity".
