On contour crossings in contour-advective simulations – part 2 – analysis of crossing errors and methods for their prevention

Abstract

This is the second of two papers devoted to the analysis of contour crossing errors that occur in contour-advective simulations of fluid motion, where either vorticity or potential vorticity is represented by contours. We begin with a detailed discussion on some of the potential mechanisms for contour crossing. Past work has suggested that the formation of contour crossings is due to inadequate spatial resolution of contours [1]. The implementation of two schemes for preventing contour crossings within the framework of the Contour-Advective Semi-Lagrangian (CASL) algorithm is detailed here. We then present an analysis of contour crossing errors in simulations of quasigeostrophic turbulence on the f-plane and the quasigeostrophic motion of an initially circular vortex patch on the β-plane using the algorithm detailed in Part 1. We find that in general individual crossings occur at scales smaller than the inversion grid scale on which velocity is calculated, but at scales larger than that of the surgical scale that defines the smallest resolved features (vorticity) of a flow. If the resolution of a quasigeostrophic turbulence simulation on the f-plane is increased by doubling the number of grid points in each coordinate direction used in the calculation of the velocity field, then the total area in error due to contour crossings remains unchanged; a smaller number of crossings introducing larger scale area errors is replaced by a greater number of smaller local errors. Uniformly increasing the density of nodes along all contours and placement of nodes at points of close approach on contours are both effective methods for limiting contour crossings.