A flexible <i>z</i>-layers approach for the accurate representation of free surface flows in a coastal ocean model (SHYFEM v. 7_5_71)

Arpaia, Luca; Ferrarin, Christian; Bajo, Marco; Umgiesser, Georg

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6899-2023

Articles | Volume 16, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6899-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6899-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 22

Development and technical paper

|

28 Nov 2023

Development and technical paper |

| 28 Nov 2023

A flexible z-layers approach for the accurate representation of free surface flows in a coastal ocean model (SHYFEM v. 7_5_71)

Luca Arpaia, Christian Ferrarin, Marco Bajo, and Georg Umgiesser

Model code and software

SHYFEM version with surface-adaptive z-coordinates (7_5_71-zlay1.2) Luca Arpaia https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8356398

Short summary

We propose a discrete multilayer shallow water model based on z-layers which, thanks to the insertion and removal of surface layers, can deal with an arbitrarily large tidal oscillation independently of the vertical resolution. The algorithm is based on a two-step procedure used in numerical simulations with moving boundaries (grid movement followed by a grid topology change, that is, the insertion/removal of surface layers), which avoids the appearance of very thin surface layers.