The ZM-grid An Alternative to the strongZstrong-grid.pdfVIP

March 4, 2002 7:21 pm The ZM-grid: An Alternative to the Z-grid Todd D. Ringler and David A. Randall Department of Atmospheric Science Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 November 19, 2001 revised for Monthly Weather Review Corresponding author: Todd Ringler Department of Atmospheric Science Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523-1371 todd@placer.atmos.colostate.edu March 4, 2002 Abstract We have analyzed the shallow-water equations discretized on a perfect hexagonal grid using both a momentum formulation and a vorticity-divergence formulation. The vorticity-divergence formulation uses the unstaggered Z-grid that places mass, vorticity, and divergence at the centers of the hexagons. The momentum formulation uses the staggered ZM-grid that places mass at the centers of the hexagons and ve- locity at the corners of the hexagons. We find that the Z-grid and the ZM-grid are identical in their simula- tion of the physical modes relevant to geostrophic adjustment. Consistent with the continuous system, the simulated gravity-inertia wave phase speeds increase monotonically with increasing total wave number and, thus, all waves have non-zero group velocities. Since a grid of hexagons has twice as many corners as it has centers, the ZM-grid has twice as many velocity points as it has mass points. As a result, the ZM-grid velocity field is discretized at a higher reso- lution than the mass field and, therefore, resolves a larger region of wave number space than the mass fie