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A reduced grid model for shallow flows on the sphere

Conference ·
OSTI ID:113926
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
The authors describe a numerical model for simulating shallow water flows on a rotating sphere. The model is augmented by a reduced grid capability that increases the allowable time step based on stability requirements, and leads to significant improvements in computational efficiency. The model is based on finite difference techniques, and in particular on the nonoscillatory forward-in-time advection scheme MPDATA. They have implemented the model on the massively parallel CM-5, and have used it to simulate shallow water flows representative of global atmospheric motions. Here they present simulations of two flows, the Rossby-Haurwitz wave of period four, a nearly steady pattern with a complex balance of large and small scale motions, and also a zonal flow perturbed by an obstacle. They compare the accuracy and efficiency of using the reduced grid option with that of the original model. The authors also present simulations at several levels of resolution to show how the efficiency of the model scales with problem size.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
113926
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--95-2794; CONF-9507179--1; ON: DE95017852
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English