Improving the ability of existing General Circulation Models (GCMs) to simulate a realistic k−5/3 wave number energy spectrum at atmospheric mesoscales is a recurring theme in the development of dynamical cores for the atmospheric circulation. Why do successful models of the atmosphere not necessarily exhibit the observed transition from k-3 to k-5/3 ? How does this relate to error growth in predictions ? How does vertical velocity relate to the energy redistribution of horizontal kinetic energy ? How does this change as global circulation models start to explicitly simulate convection ?
These and other intriguing questions were discussed in this mini-workshop. The latest theoretical developments in understanding energy spectra in the atmosphere and their emergence in observed and modelled spectra, and comparisons with aircraft data and other observations of vertical velocity with results from km-scale simulations were reviewed.