Articles | Volume 10, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2117-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2117-2017
Development and technical paper
 | 
06 Jun 2017
Development and technical paper |  | 06 Jun 2017

JIGSAW-GEO (1.0): locally orthogonal staggered unstructured grid generation for general circulation modelling on the sphere

Darren Engwirda

Abstract. An algorithm for the generation of non-uniform, locally orthogonal staggered unstructured spheroidal grids is described. This technique is designed to generate very high-quality staggered Voronoi–Delaunay meshes appropriate for general circulation modelling on the sphere, including applications to atmospheric simulation, ocean-modelling and numerical weather prediction. Using a recently developed Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique, a method for the construction of high-quality unstructured spheroidal Delaunay triangulations is introduced. A locally orthogonal polygonal grid, derived from the associated Voronoi diagram, is computed as the staggered dual. It is shown that use of the Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique allows for the generation of very high-quality unstructured triangulations, satisfying a priori bounds on element size and shape. Grid quality is further improved through the application of hill-climbing-type optimisation techniques. Overall, the algorithm is shown to produce grids with very high element quality and smooth grading characteristics, while imposing relatively low computational expense. A selection of uniform and non-uniform spheroidal grids appropriate for high-resolution, multi-scale general circulation modelling are presented. These grids are shown to satisfy the geometric constraints associated with contemporary unstructured C-grid-type finite-volume models, including the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS-O). The use of user-defined mesh-spacing functions to generate smoothly graded, non-uniform grids for multi-resolution-type studies is discussed in detail.

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Short summary
A new algorithm for the generation of very high-quality staggered unstructured grids for multi-resolution ocean and atmospheric modelling is described. Through use of unstructured triangulation and grid-optimisation techniques, it is shown that meshes satisfying a number of important a priori grid-quality constraints can be constructed. This new algorithm is expected to be of interest to both developers and users of unstructured general circulation models.