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Physics-Dynamics Coupling in Weather, Climate, and Earth System Models: Challenges and Recent Progress

Journal Article · · Monthly Weather Review
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [16];  [17] more »;  [2];  [2] « less
  1. Departamento de Oceanografica Fisica, Carretera
  2. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  4. National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box
  5. Hans Ertel Center for Weather Research, Deutscher
  6. University of Michigan
  7. Met Officece, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK
  8. Met Office, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK
  9. CEMPS, Exeter University, Prince of Wales Road,
  10. Met Office, Exeter, United Kingdom
  11. INRIA, Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, LJK, CNRS, Grenoble
  12. ECMWF, Shineld Park, Reading, RG2 9AX, UK
  13. Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Ringlaan 3,
  14. Institute for Atomospheric Physics Kuehlungsborn, Germany
  15. National Center for Atmospheric Research
  16. Applied Numerical Algorithms Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA
  17. National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
+ Show Author Affiliations

Geophysical models of the atmosphere and ocean invariably involve parameterizations. These represent two distinct areas: a) Subgrid processes which the model cannot (yet) resolve, due to its discrete resolution, and b) sources in the equation, due to radiation for example. Hence coupling between these physics parameterizations and the resolved fluid dynamics and also between the dynamics of the different fluids in the system (air and water) is necessary. This coupling is an important aspect of geophysical models. However, often model development is strictly segregated into either physics or dynamics. Hence, this area has many more unanswered questions than in-depth understanding. Furthermore, recent developments in the design of dynamical cores (significant increase of resolution, move to non-hydrostatic equation sets etc), extended process physics (prognostic micro physics, 3D turbulence, non-vertical radiation etc) and predicted future changes of the computational infrastructure (Exascale with its need for task parallelism, data locality and asynchronous time stepping for example) is adding even more complexity and new questions.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1562922
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-115484
Journal Information:
Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 146, Issue 11
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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