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Algorithm for reduced grid generation on a sphere for a global finite-difference atmospheric model

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Abstract

A reduced latitude-longitude grid is a modified version of a uniform spherical grid in which the number of longitudinal grid points is not fixed but depends on latitude. A method for constructing a reduced grid for a global finite-difference semi-Lagrangian atmospheric model is discussed. The key idea behind the algorithm is to generate a one-dimensional latitude grid and then to find a reduced grid that not only has a prescribed resolution structure and an admissible cell shape distortion but also minimizes a certain functional. The functional is specified as the rms interpolation error of an analytically defined function. In this way, the interpolation error, which is a major one in finite-difference semi-Lagrangian models, is taken into account. The potential of the proposed approach is demonstrated as applied to the advection equation on a sphere, which is numerically solved with various velocity fields on constructed reduced grids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Numerical Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Gubkina 8, Moscow, 119333, Russia

    R. Yu. Fadeev

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Original Russian Text © R.Yu. Fadeev, 2013, published in Zhurnal Vychislitel’noi Matematiki i Matematicheskoi Fiziki, 2013, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 291–308.

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Fadeev, R.Y. Algorithm for reduced grid generation on a sphere for a global finite-difference atmospheric model. Comput. Math. and Math. Phys. 53, 237–252 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0965542513020073

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