Design of a nonsingular Level 2.5 second-order closure model for the prediction of atmospheric turbulence

The suitability of applying the Mellor and Yamada (1974, 1982) Level 2.5 second-order turbulence closure model to general circulation models is investigated by examining not only the scheme's simulation of fully (or nearly fully) developed turbulence, but also its simulation of rapidly growing or strongly decaying turbulence. The behavior of the model is presented over its entire domain of definition, with special consideration given to the pathologies of the model. The model is then modified for the case of growing turbulence to rectify some of its physical shortcomings for that case, and to remove the pathologies that prohibit its use in a general circulation model. The performance of the modified Level 2.5 model is compared to the performance of various other modified versions through the numerical simulation for a growing convective PBL. The results show that the modified Level 2.5 model is a viable candidate for the prediction of turbulence and the simulation of the PBL in general circulation models.