University of Michigan

10am, May 24, 2004

 

Abstract:

The computational fluid dynamics on a sphere is relevant to global simulations of geophysical fluid dynamics. Using the conventional spherical-polar (or lat-lon) grid results in a singularity at the poles, with orders of magnitude smaller cell sizes at the poles in comparison to the equator. To address this problem, we developed a new general circulation model with a gnomonic equiangular cubed-sphere configuration. This model is developed based on the Simulating Nonhydrostatic Atmospheres on Planets (SNAP) model, using a finite volume numerical scheme with a Riemann-solver-based dynamic core and the vertical implicit correction (VIC) scheme. We present standard tests including cloud resolving simulations, 2D shallow-water modeling and 3D general circulation tests, for Earth, Jupiter and hot Jupiters. We also discuss the scientific discoveries resulted from the simulations.