On some spurious mode issues in shallow-water models using a linear algebra approach

Abstract

Numerical methods that are usually employed in ocean modelling are typically finite-difference, finite and spectral-element techniques. For most of these methods the coupling between the momentum and continuity equations is a delicate problem and it usually leads to spurious solutions in the representation of inertia-gravity waves. The spurious modes have a wide range of characteristics and may take the form of pressure (surface-elevation), velocity and/or Coriolis modes. The modes usually cause aliasing and an accumulation of energy in the smallest-resolvable scale, leading to noisy solutions. The Fourier analysis has proven practical and beneficial to describe the spurious solutions of several classical schemes. However it is restricted to uniform meshes on which the variables are regularly distributed. In this paper, a linear algebra approach is proposed to study the existence and the behaviour of stationary spurious modes associated with zero frequency, for some popular finite-difference and finite-element grids. The present approach is performed on uniform meshes but it applies equally well to regular as well as unstructured meshes with irregular geometry for the finite-element schemes.