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A global shallow‐water model on an icosahedral–hexagonal grid by a multi‐moment constrained finite‐volume scheme
Author(s) -
Chen Chungang,
Bin Juzhong,
Xiao Feng,
Li Xingliang,
Shen Xueshun
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.2157
Subject(s) - moment (physics) , grid , finite volume method , constraint (computer aided design) , mathematics , benchmark (surveying) , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , mathematical optimization , mathematical analysis , geometry , physics , classical mechanics , geology , mechanics , geodesy , quantum mechanics
A third‐order global shallow‐water model was developed on an icosahedral–hexagonal grid with the application of the multi‐moment constrained finite‐volume (MCV) method. Using the hexagonal grid, the sphere is divided into quasi‐uniform elements and free of polar problems. The MCV model defines seven degrees of freedom (DOFs) as the prognostic variables which are the point values at the six vertices and the centre for each hexagonal element to construct a third‐order scheme. The time evolution equations to update the DOFs are derived through the constraint conditions on different moments, i.e. the point value and the volume‐integrated average (VIA) moments. Rigorous conservation is guaranteed by the constraint on the VIA through a flux form. The MCV formulation is very simple and easy to implement. We evaluated the model with benchmark tests, and the competitive results reveal the proposed model to be an accurate and practical framework for developing general circulation models.