Exploring a lower-resolution physics grid in CAM-SE-CSLAM
Herrington, A. R., Lauritzen, P. H., Reed, K. A., Goldhaber, S., Eaton, B. E.. (2019). Exploring a lower-resolution physics grid in CAM-SE-CSLAM. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001684
Title | Exploring a lower-resolution physics grid in CAM-SE-CSLAM |
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Genre | Article |
Author(s) | Adam R. Herrington, Peter H. Lauritzen, K. A. Reed, Steve Goldhaber, Brian E. Eaton |
Abstract | This paper describes the implementation of a coarser-resolution physics grid into the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), containing urn:x-wiley:jame:media:jame20916:jame20916-math-0001 fewer grid columns than the dynamics grid. The dry dynamics is represented by the spectral element dynamical core, and tracer transport is computed using the Conservative Semi-Lagrangian Finite Volume Method (CAM-SE-CSLAM). Algorithms are presented that map fields between the dynamics and physics grids while maintaining numerical properties ideal for atmospheric simulations such as mass conservation and mixing ratio shape and linear-correlation preservation. The results of experiments using the lower-resolution physics grid are compared to the conventional method in which the physics and dynamical grids coincide. The lower-resolution physics grid provides a volume mean state to the physics computed from an equal sampling of the different types of nodal solutions arising in the spectral-element method and effectively mitigates grid imprinting in regions with steep topography. The impact of the coarser-resolution physics grid on the resolved scales of motion is analyzed in an aquaplanet configuration, across a range of dynamical core grid resolutions. The results suggest that the effective resolution of the model is not degraded through the use of a coarser-resolution physics grid. Since the physics makes up about half the computational cost of the conventional CAM-SE-CSLAM configuration, the coarser physics grid may allow for significant cost savings with little to no downside. |
Publication Title | Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems |
Publication Date | Jul 1, 2019 |
Publisher's Version of Record | https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001684 |
OpenSky Citable URL | https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7rb76xn |
OpenSky Listing | View on OpenSky |
CESM Affiliations |