An Effect of the Model's Horizontal Resolution on Stationary Eddies Simulated by the NCAR CCMI

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Abstract
The multiyear climate simulations performed by the Community Climate Model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research with three horizontal resolutions [a 1 5-wave rhomboidal truncation (R15) and 31- and 42-wave triangular truncations, (T31 and T42)] were used to examine the effect of the model's horizontal resolution on the simulated stationary long waves. It was found that through increasing the model's horizontal resolution, the major parts of changes in streamfunction and velocity potential of stationary long waves became spatially in quadrature with these two fields of the R15 resolution; the stationary long waves of the R15 resolution were closer to the observed than those of the other two higher resolutions, and amplitudes of stationary long waves generated by the T31 and T42 models were amplified. A systematic enhancement of the tropical diabatic heating is noted over the three tropical continents when the model's horizontal resolution is increased. Based upon a possible chain relation between diabatic beating, divergent circulation, and rotational motion, it is suggested that the aforementioned systematic changes in streamfunction and velocity potential may be a part of the response of the model atmosphere to those changes in tropical diabatic heating that are induced by the increase of the model's horizontal resolution.

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