Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-781-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-781-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Model description paper
| 
30 Jan 2024
Model description paper |
| 30 Jan 2024
| 30 Jan 2024
MinVoellmy v1: a lightweight model for simulating rapid mass movements based on a modified Voellmy rheology
Stefan Hergarten
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Albertstr. 23B, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
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Toma hills are more or less isolated hills in the deposits of rock avalanches and their origin is still enigmatic. This paper presents results of numerical simulations based on a modified version of a friction law that was originally introduced for snow avalanches. The model produces more or less isolated hills on the valley floor, which look much like toma hills. The results presented here provide the perhaps first explanation for the occurrence of toma hills based on a numerical model.
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Large landslides turn into an avalanche-like mode of flow at high velocities, which allows for a much longer runout than predicted for a sliding solid body. In this study, the Voellmy rheology widely used in models for hazard assessment is reinterpreted and extended. The new approach predicts the increase in runout length with volume observed in nature quite well and may thus be a major step towards a more consistent modeling of rock avalanches and improved hazard assessment.
Stefan Hergarten
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Rockslides are a major hazard in mountainous regions. In formerly glaciated regions, the disposition mainly arises from oversteepened topography and decreases through time. However, little is known about this decrease and thus about the present-day hazard of huge, potentially catastrophic rockslides. This paper presents a new theoretical framework that explains the decrease in maximum rockslide size through time and predicts the present-day frequency of large rockslides for the European Alps.
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This study uses dendritic flow patterns to analyze the recession behavior of aquifer springs. The results show that the long-term recession becomes slower for large catchments. After a short recharge event, however, the short-term behavior differs strongly from the exponential recession that would be expected from a linear reservoir. The exponential component still accounts for more than 80 % of the total discharge, much more than typically assumed for karst aquifers.
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Stefan Hergarten
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Many contemporary models of large-scale fluvial erosion focus on the detachment-limited regime where all material entrained by the river is immediately excavated. This limitation facilitates the comparison with real river profiles and strongly reduces the numerical complexity. Here a simple formulation for the opposite case, transport-limited erosion, and a new numerical scheme that achieves almost the same numerical efficiency as detachment-limited models are presented.
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The evolution of the drainage system in the Eastern Alps is inherently linked to different tectonic stages. This leads to a situation in which major orogen-parallel alpine rivers, such as the Salzach and the Enns, are characterized by elongated east–west-oriented catchments. We investigate the stability of present-day drainage divides and the stability of reconstructed paleo-drainage systems. Our results indicate a progressive stability of the network towards the present-day situation.
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Longitudinal river profiles are increasingly used for unraveling the tectonic history on a regional scale. In the last years, the introduction of the so-called chi transform brought significant technical progress, but this method is still limited to the domain governed by fluvial erosion covering only a small part of the surface. Here we present and compare extensions of the method towards smaller catchment sizes where hillslope processes or debris flows significantly contribute to erosion.
S. Hergarten and J. Robl
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 671–685, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-671-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-671-2015, 2015
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Snow avalanches and debris flows are abundant natural hazards in mountainous regions. Numerical models describing rapid mass movements are essential for hazard studies and mitigation strategies, but only a few software tools are available for this purpose. This paper presents a new method using the shallow water equations widely applied to lakes and oceans. It introduces appropriate correction terms for steep terrain and can be implemented in a variety of fluid-dynamics software packages.
S. Hergarten, G. Winkler, and S. Birk
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Toma hills are more or less isolated hills in the deposits of rock avalanches and their origin is still enigmatic. This paper presents results of numerical simulations based on a modified version of a friction law that was originally introduced for snow avalanches. The model produces more or less isolated hills on the valley floor, which look much like toma hills. The results presented here provide the perhaps first explanation for the occurrence of toma hills based on a numerical model.
Stefan Hergarten
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-336, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-336, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Faceted topographies are impressing footprints of active tectonics in geomorphology. This paper investigates the evolution of faceted topographies at normal faults and its interaction with the river network theoretically and numerically. As a main result beyond several relations for the the geometry of facets, the horizontal displacement associated to normal faults is crucial for the dissection of initially polygonal facets into triangular facets bounded by almost parallel rivers.
Stefan Hergarten
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 219–229, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-219-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-219-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Large landslides turn into an avalanche-like mode of flow at high velocities, which allows for a much longer runout than predicted for a sliding solid body. In this study, the Voellmy rheology widely used in models for hazard assessment is reinterpreted and extended. The new approach predicts the increase in runout length with volume observed in nature quite well and may thus be a major step towards a more consistent modeling of rock avalanches and improved hazard assessment.
Stefan Hergarten
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3051–3063, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3051-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Rockslides are a major hazard in mountainous regions. In formerly glaciated regions, the disposition mainly arises from oversteepened topography and decreases through time. However, little is known about this decrease and thus about the present-day hazard of huge, potentially catastrophic rockslides. This paper presents a new theoretical framework that explains the decrease in maximum rockslide size through time and predicts the present-day frequency of large rockslides for the European Alps.
Jannick Strüven and Stefan Hergarten
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3041–3058, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3041-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3041-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses dendritic flow patterns to analyze the recession behavior of aquifer springs. The results show that the long-term recession becomes slower for large catchments. After a short recharge event, however, the short-term behavior differs strongly from the exponential recession that would be expected from a linear reservoir. The exponential component still accounts for more than 80 % of the total discharge, much more than typically assumed for karst aquifers.
Stefan Hergarten and Alexa Pietrek
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 741–755, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-741-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-741-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The transition from hillslopes to channelized flow is typically attributed to a threshold catchment size in landform evolution models. Here we propose an alternative concept directly based on topography. Using this concept, channels and hillslopes self-organize, whereby the catchment size of the channel heads varies over some range. Our numerical results suggest that this concept works better than the established idea of a strict threshold catchment size.
Moritz Liebl, Jörg Robl, Stefan Hergarten, David Lundbek Egholm, and Kurt Stüwe
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1315–1343, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1315-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1315-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we benchmark a topography-based model for glacier erosion (OpenLEM) with a well-established process-based model (iSOSIA). Our experiments show that large-scale erosion patterns and particularly the transformation of valley length geometry from fluvial to glacial conditions are very similar in both models. This finding enables the application of OpenLEM to study the influence of climate and tectonics on glaciated mountains with reasonable computational effort on standard PCs.
Stefan Hergarten
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 671–686, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-671-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-671-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Many studies on modeling landform evolution have focused on mountain ranges, while large parts of Earth's surface are quite flat and alluvial plains have been preferred locations for human settlements. Conducting large-scale simulations of fluvial erosion and sediment transport, this study reveals that rivers in a tectonically inactive foreland are much more dynamic than rivers in a mountain range; the local redistribution of deposits in the foreland is the main driver of the dynamics.
Stefan Hergarten and Jörg Robl
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2063–2084, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2063-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2063-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of climate on landform evolution has attracted great interest over the past decades. This paper presents a simple model for simulating the influence of topography on precipitation and the decrease in precipitation over large continental areas. The approach can be included in numerical models of large-scale landform evolution and causes only a moderate increase in the numerical complexity. It opens a door to investigating feedbacks between climate and landform evolution.
Stefan Hergarten
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 937–952, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-937-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-937-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new approach to modeling glacial erosion on large scales. The formalism is similar to large-scale models of fluvial erosion, so glacial and fluvial processes can be easily combined. The model is simpler and numerically less demanding than established models based on a more detailed description of the ice flux. The numerical implementation almost achieves the efficiency of purely fluvial models, so that simulations over millions of years can be performed on standard PCs.
Anne-Laure Argentin, Jörg Robl, Günther Prasicek, Stefan Hergarten, Daniel Hölbling, Lorena Abad, and Zahra Dabiri
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1615–1637, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study relies on topography to simulate the origin and displacement of potentially river-blocking landslides. It highlights a continuous range of simulated landslide dams that go unnoticed in the field due to their small scale. The computation results show that landslide-dammed lake volume can be estimated from upstream drainage area and landslide volume, thus enabling an efficient hazard assessment of possible landslide-dammed lake volume – and flooding magnitude in case of dam failure.
Stefan Hergarten
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 841–854, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-841-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-841-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Many contemporary models of large-scale fluvial erosion focus on the detachment-limited regime where all material entrained by the river is immediately excavated. This limitation facilitates the comparison with real river profiles and strongly reduces the numerical complexity. Here a simple formulation for the opposite case, transport-limited erosion, and a new numerical scheme that achieves almost the same numerical efficiency as detachment-limited models are presented.
Stefan Hergarten
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 367–377, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-367-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-367-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Models of fluvial erosion have a long history in landform evolution modeling. Interactions between rivers and processes acting at hillslopes (e.g., landslides) are receiving growing interest in this context. While present-day computer capacities allow for applying such coupled models, there is still a scaling problem when considering rivers to be linear elements on a topography. Based on a reinterpretation of old empirical results, this study presents a new approach to overcome this problem.
Georg Trost, Jörg Robl, Stefan Hergarten, and Franz Neubauer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 69–85, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-69-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-69-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The evolution of the drainage system in the Eastern Alps is inherently linked to different tectonic stages. This leads to a situation in which major orogen-parallel alpine rivers, such as the Salzach and the Enns, are characterized by elongated east–west-oriented catchments. We investigate the stability of present-day drainage divides and the stability of reconstructed paleo-drainage systems. Our results indicate a progressive stability of the network towards the present-day situation.
Stefan Hergarten and Thomas Kenkmann
Earth Surf. Dynam., 7, 459–473, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-459-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-459-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Our study reveals that worldwide mean erosion rates on the million-year timescale are very similar to present-day erosion rates in contrast to the majority of the previously published results. Concerning the dependence of erosion on climate, we found that the long-term erosion efficacy of the tropical zone has been about 5 times higher than that of the cold zones, while the erosional efficacy of the present-day arid zone has been as high as that of the temperate zone.
S. Hergarten, J. Robl, and K. Stüwe
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-1-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Longitudinal river profiles are increasingly used for unraveling the tectonic history on a regional scale. In the last years, the introduction of the so-called chi transform brought significant technical progress, but this method is still limited to the domain governed by fluvial erosion covering only a small part of the surface. Here we present and compare extensions of the method towards smaller catchment sizes where hillslope processes or debris flows significantly contribute to erosion.
S. Hergarten and J. Robl
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 671–685, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-671-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-671-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Snow avalanches and debris flows are abundant natural hazards in mountainous regions. Numerical models describing rapid mass movements are essential for hazard studies and mitigation strategies, but only a few software tools are available for this purpose. This paper presents a new method using the shallow water equations widely applied to lakes and oceans. It introduces appropriate correction terms for steep terrain and can be implemented in a variety of fluid-dynamics software packages.
S. Hergarten, G. Winkler, and S. Birk
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4277–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4277-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4277-2014, 2014
S. Hergarten, J. Robl, and K. Stüwe
Earth Surf. Dynam., 2, 97–104, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-97-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-97-2014, 2014
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In this study, a land surface image assimilation system capable of optimizing the spatial structure of the background field is constructed by introducing the curvelet analysis method and taking the similarity of image structure as a weak constraint. The findings demonstrate that the assimilation of surface soil moisture observation images effectively and reasonably enhances the spatial structure of soil moisture analysis field.
Luan Carlos de Sena Monteiro Ozelim, Michéle Dal Toé Casagrande, and André Luís Brasil Cavalcante
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3175–3197, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3175-2024, 2024
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The paper addresses synthetic dataset challenges in nonlinear constitutive modeling of soils, providing two datasets: one with 2000 soil types, 40 test conditions each (160 000 triaxial tests), and a second with 2048 soil types, 42 test conditions each (172 032 triaxial tests). Each dataset is a 4000×10 matrix applicable for multivariate forecasting and geotechnical simulations. In addition, a new Python code is introduced, empowering researchers to leverage Python packages for NorSand analyses.
Daniel Giles, Matthew M. Graham, Mosè Giordano, Tuomas Koskela, Alexandros Beskos, and Serge Guillas
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2427–2445, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2427-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2427-2024, 2024
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Digital twins of physical and human systems informed by real-time data are becoming ubiquitous across a wide range of settings. Progress for researchers is currently limited by a lack of tools to run these models effectively and efficiently. A key challenge is the optimal use of high-performance computing environments. The work presented here focuses on a developed open-source software platform which aims to improve this usage, with an emphasis placed on flexibility, efficiency, and scalability.
Stefan J. Miller, Paul A. Makar, and Colin J. Lee
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2197–2219, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2197-2024, 2024
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This work outlines a new solver written in Fortran to calculate the partitioning of metastable aerosols at thermodynamic equilibrium based on the forward algorithms of ISORROPIA II. The new code includes numerical improvements that decrease the computational speed (compared to ISORROPIA II) while improving the accuracy of the partitioning solution.
Fernanda Alvarado-Neves, Laurent Ailleres, Lachlan Grose, Alexander R. Cruden, and Robin Armit
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1975–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1975-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1975-2024, 2024
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Previous work has demonstrated that adding geological knowledge to modelling methods creates more accurate and reliable models. Following this reasoning, we added constraints from magma emplacement mechanisms into existing modelling frameworks to improve the 3D characterisation of igneous intrusions. We tested the method on synthetic and real-world case studies, and the results show that our method can reproduce intrusion morphologies with no manual processing and using realistic datasets.
André R. Brodtkorb, Anna Benedictow, Heiko Klein, Arve Kylling, Agnes Nyiri, Alvaro Valdebenito, Espen Sollum, and Nina Kristiansen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1957–1974, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1957-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1957-2024, 2024
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It is vital to know the extent and concentration of volcanic ash in the atmosphere during a volcanic eruption. Whilst satellite imagery may give an estimate of the ash right now (assuming no cloud coverage), we also need to know where it will be in the coming hours. This paper presents a method for estimating parameters for a volcanic eruption based on satellite observations of ash in the atmosphere. The software package is open source and applicable to similar inversion scenarios.
Kees Nederhoff, Maarten van Ormondt, Jay Veeramony, Ap van Dongeren, José Antonio Álvarez Antolínez, Tim Leijnse, and Dano Roelvink
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1789–1811, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1789-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1789-2024, 2024
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Forecasting tropical cyclones and their flooding impact is challenging. Our research introduces the Tropical Cyclone Forecasting Framework (TC-FF), enhancing cyclone predictions despite uncertainties. TC-FF generates global wind and flood scenarios, valuable even in data-limited regions. Applied to cases like Cyclone Idai, it showcases potential in bettering disaster preparation, marking progress in handling cyclone threats.
Younghun Kang and Ethan J. Kubatko
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1603–1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1603-2024, 2024
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Models used to simulate the flow of coastal and riverine waters, including flooding, require a geometric representation (or mesh) of geographic features that exhibit a range of disparate spatial scales from large, open waters to small, narrow channels. Representing these features in an accurate way without excessive computational overhead presents a challenge. Here, we develop an automatic mesh generation tool to help address this challenge. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.
Hui Wan, Kai Zhang, Christopher J. Vogl, Carol S. Woodward, Richard C. Easter, Philip J. Rasch, Yan Feng, and Hailong Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1387–1407, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1387-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1387-2024, 2024
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Sophisticated numerical models of the Earth's atmosphere include representations of many physical and chemical processes. In numerical simulations, these processes need to be calculated in a certain sequence. This study reveals the weaknesses of the sequence of calculations used for aerosol processes in a global atmosphere model. A revision of the sequence is proposed and its impacts on the simulated global aerosol climatology are evaluated.
Christopher J. Vogl, Hui Wan, Carol S. Woodward, and Quan M. Bui
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1409–1428, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1409-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1409-2024, 2024
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Generally speaking, accurate climate simulation requires an accurate evolution of the underlying mathematical equations on large computers. The equations are typically formulated and evolved in process groups. Process coupling refers to how the evolution of each group is combined with that of other groups to evolve the full set of equations for the whole atmosphere. This work presents a mathematical framework to evaluate methods without the need to first implement the methods.
Tom Keel, Chris Brierley, and Tamsin Edwards
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1229–1247, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1229-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1229-2024, 2024
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Jet streams are an important control on surface weather as their speed and shape can modify the properties of weather systems. Establishing trends in the operation of jet streams may provide some indication of the future of weather in a warming world. Despite this, it has not been easy to establish trends, as many methods have been used to characterise them in data. We introduce a tool containing various implementations of jet stream statistics and algorithms that works in a standardised manner.
Amir Golparvar, Matthias Kästner, and Martin Thullner
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 881–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-881-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-881-2024, 2024
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Coupled reaction transport modelling is an established and beneficial method for studying natural and synthetic porous material, with applications ranging from industrial processes to natural decompositions in terrestrial environments. Up to now, a framework that explicitly considers the porous structure (e.g. from µ-CT images) for modelling the transport of reactive species is missing. We presented a model that overcomes this limitation and represents a novel numerical simulation toolbox.
Arjun Babu Nellikkattil, Danielle Lemmon, Travis Allen O'Brien, June-Yi Lee, and Jung-Eun Chu
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 301–320, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-301-2024, 2024
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This study introduces a new computational framework called Scalable Feature Extraction and Tracking (SCAFET), designed to extract and track features in climate data. SCAFET stands out by using innovative shape-based metrics to identify features without relying on preconceived assumptions about the climate model or mean state. This approach allows more accurate comparisons between different models and scenarios.
Mohammad Mortezazadeh, Jean-François Cossette, Ashu Dastoor, Jean de Grandpré, Irena Ivanova, and Abdessamad Qaddouri
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 335–346, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-335-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-335-2024, 2024
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The interpolation process is the most computationally expensive step of the semi-Lagrangian (SL) approach. In this paper we implement a new interpolation scheme into the semi-Lagrangian approach which has the same computational cost as a third-order polynomial scheme but with the accuracy of a fourth-order interpolation scheme. This improvement is achieved by using two third-order backward and forward polynomial interpolation schemes in two consecutive time steps.
Boris Gailleton, Luca C. Malatesta, Guillaume Cordonnier, and Jean Braun
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 71–90, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-71-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-71-2024, 2024
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This contribution presents a new method to numerically explore the evolution of mountain ranges and surrounding areas. The method helps in monitoring with details on the timing and travel path of material eroded from the mountain ranges. It is particularly well suited to studies juxtaposing different domains – lakes or multiple rock types, for example – and enables the combination of different processes.
Denise Degen, Daniel Caviedes Voullième, Susanne Buiter, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Harry Vereecken, Ana González-Nicolás, and Florian Wellmann
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7375–7409, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7375-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7375-2023, 2023
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In geosciences, we often use simulations based on physical laws. These simulations can be computationally expensive, which is a problem if simulations must be performed many times (e.g., to add error bounds). We show how a novel machine learning method helps to reduce simulation time. In comparison to other approaches, which typically only look at the output of a simulation, the method considers physical laws in the simulation itself. The method provides reliable results faster than standard.
Carlos Spa, Otilio Rojas, and Josep de la Puente
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7237–7252, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7237-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7237-2023, 2023
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This paper develops a calibration methodology of all absorbing techniques typically used by Fourier pseudo-spectral time-domain (PSTD) methods for geoacoustic wave simulations. The main contributions of the paper are (a) an implementation and quantitative comparison of all absorbing techniques available for PSTD methods through a simple and robust numerical experiment, and (b) a validation of these absorbing techniques in several 3-D seismic scenarios with gradual heterogeneity complexities.
Michael Hillier, Florian Wellmann, Eric A. de Kemp, Boyan Brodaric, Ernst Schetselaar, and Karine Bédard
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6987–7012, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6987-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6987-2023, 2023
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Neural networks can be used effectively to model three-dimensional geological structures from point data, sampling geological interfaces, units, and structural orientations. Existing neural network approaches for this type of modelling are advanced by the efficient incorporation of unconformities, new knowledge inputs, and improved data fitting techniques. These advances permit the modelling of more complex geology in diverse geological settings, different-sized areas, and various data regimes.
Gianandrea Mannarini, Mario Leonardo Salinas, Lorenzo Carelli, Nicola Petacco, and Josip Orović
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2060, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2060, 2023
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Ship weather routing has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, but it currently lacks open and verifiable research. The Python-refactored VISIR-2 model considers currents, waves, and wind to optimise routes. The model was validated and its computational performance is now quasi-linear. VISIR-2 yields, for more than ten days in a year, two-digit savings for a ferry sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. Sailboat routes with wind and currents can be optimised as well.
Soyoung Ha, Jonathan J. Guerrette, Ivette Hernandez Banos, William C. Skamarock, and Michael G. Duda
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2299, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2299, 2023
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To mitigate the imbalances in the initial conditions, this study introduces our recent implementation of the the incremental analysis update (IAU) in the Model for Prediction Across Scales for the Atmospheric component (MPAS-A), coupled with the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI), through the cycling system. A month-long cycling run demonstrates the successful implementation of the IAU capability in the MPAS-JEDI cycling system.
Tor Nordam, Ruben Kristiansen, Raymond Nepstad, Erik van Sebille, and Andy M. Booth
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5339–5363, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5339-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5339-2023, 2023
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We describe and compare two common methods, Eulerian and Lagrangian models, used to simulate the vertical transport of material in the ocean. They both solve the same transport problems but use different approaches for representing the underlying equations on the computer. The main focus of our study is on the numerical accuracy of the two approaches. Our results should be useful for other researchers creating or using these types of transport models.
Mathieu Gravey and Grégoire Mariethoz
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5265–5279, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5265-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5265-2023, 2023
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Multiple‐point geostatistics are widely used to simulate complex spatial structures based on a training image. The use of these methods relies on the possibility of finding optimal training images and parametrization of the simulation algorithms. Here, we propose finding an optimal set of parameters using only the training image as input. The main advantage of our approach is to remove the risk of overfitting an objective function.
Siting Li, Ping Wang, Hong Wang, Yue Peng, Zhaodong Liu, Wenjie Zhang, Hongli Liu, Yaqiang Wang, Huizheng Che, and Xiaoye Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4171–4191, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4171-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4171-2023, 2023
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Optimizing the initial state of atmospheric chemistry model input is one of the most essential methods to improve forecast accuracy. Considering the large computational load of the model, we introduce an ensemble optimal interpolation scheme (EnOI) for operational use and efficient updating of the initial fields of chemical components. The results suggest that EnOI provides a practical and cost-effective technique for improving the accuracy of chemical weather numerical forecasts.
Thomas Richter, Véronique Dansereau, Christian Lessig, and Piotr Minakowski
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3907–3926, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3907-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3907-2023, 2023
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Sea ice covers not only the pole regions but affects the weather and climate globally. For example, its white surface reflects more sunlight than land. The oceans around the poles are therefore kept cool, which affects the circulation in the oceans worldwide. Simulating the behavior and changes in sea ice on a computer is, however, very difficult. We propose a new computer simulation that better models how cracks in the ice change over time and show this by comparing to other simulations.
Federica Castino, Feijia Yin, Volker Grewe, Hiroshi Yamashita, Sigrun Matthes, Simone Dietmüller, Sabine Baumann, Manuel Soler, Abolfazl Simorgh, Maximilian Mendiguchia Meuser, Florian Linke, and Benjamin Lührs
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-88, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-88, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for GMD
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We introduce SolFinder 1.0, a decision-making tool to select trade-offs between different objective functions, including fuel use, flight time, NOx emissions, contrail distance, and climate impact. The module is included in the AirTraf 3.0 submodel, which optimizes trajectories under weather conditions simulated by an atmospheric model (EMAC). This paper focuses on the ability of the module to identify eco-efficient trajectories, which reduce the flights climate impact at limited cost penalties.
Emma J. MacKie, Michael Field, Lijing Wang, Zhen Yin, Nathan Schoedl, Matthew Hibbs, and Allan Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3765–3783, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3765-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3765-2023, 2023
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Earth scientists often have to fill in spatial gaps in measurements. This gap-filling or interpolation can be accomplished with geostatistical methods, where the statistical relationships between measurements are used to inform how these gaps should be filled. Despite the broad utility of these methods, there are few freely available geostatistical software applications. We present GStatSim, a Python package for performing different geostatistical interpolation methods.
Ian Madden, Simone Marras, and Jenny Suckale
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3479–3500, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3479-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3479-2023, 2023
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To aid risk managers who may wish to rapidly assess tsunami risk but may lack high-performance computing infrastructure, we provide an accessible software package able to rapidly model tsunami inundation over real topography by leveraging Google's Tensor Processing Unit, a high-performance hardware. Minimally trained users can take advantage of the rapid modeling abilities provided by this package via a web browser thanks to the ease of use of Google Cloud Platform.
Youtong Rong, Paul Bates, and Jeffrey Neal
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3291–3311, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3291-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3291-2023, 2023
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A novel subgrid channel (SGC) model is developed for river–floodplain modelling, allowing utilization of subgrid-scale bathymetric information while performing computations on relatively coarse grids. By including adaptive artificial diffusion, potential numerical instability, which the original SGC solver had, in low-friction regions such as urban areas is addressed. Evaluation of the new SGC model through structured tests confirmed that the accuracy and stability have improved.
Xiaqiong Zhou and Hann-Ming Henry Juang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3263–3274, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3263-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3263-2023, 2023
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The National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System version 16 experienced model instability failures in real-time runs resolved by increasing the minimum thickness depth parameter. Further investigation revealed that the issue was caused by the advection of geopotential heights at the model's layer interfaces. By replacing high-order boundary conditions with zero-gradient boundary conditions for interface-wind reconstruction, the instability was effectively addressed.
Grant T. Euen, Shangxin Liu, Rene Gassmöller, Timo Heister, and Scott D. King
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3221–3239, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3221-2023, 2023
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Due to the increasing availability of high-performance computing over the past few decades, numerical models have become an important tool for research. Here we test two geodynamic codes that produce such models: ASPECT, a newer code, and CitcomS, an older one. We show that they produce solutions that are extremely close. As methods and codes become more complex over time, showing reproducibility allows us to seamlessly link previously known information to modern methodologies.
Mohammad Kazem Sharifian, Georges Kesserwani, Alovya Ahmed Chowdhury, Jeffrey Neal, and Paul Bates
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 2391–2413, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2391-2023, 2023
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This paper describes a new release of the LISFLOOD-FP model for fast and efficient flood simulations. It features a new non-uniform grid generator that uses multiwavelet analyses to sensibly coarsens the resolutions where the local topographic variations are smooth. Moreover, the model is parallelised on the graphical processing units (GPUs) to further boost computational efficiency. The performance of the model is assessed for five real-world case studies, noting its potential applications.
Bruno K. Zürcher
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1697–1711, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1697-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1697-2023, 2023
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We present a novel algorithm to efficiently compute Barnes interpolation, which is a method for transforming data values recorded at irregularly spaced points into a corresponding regular grid. In contrast to naive implementations with an algorithmic complexity that depends on the product of the number of sample points and the number of grid points, our approach reduces this dependency to their sum.
David H. Marsico and Paul A. Ullrich
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1537–1551, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1537-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1537-2023, 2023
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Climate models involve several different components, such as the atmosphere, ocean, and land models. Information needs to be exchanged, or remapped, between these models, and devising algorithms for performing this exchange is important for ensuring the accuracy of climate simulations. In this paper, we examine the efficacy of several traditional and novel approaches to remapping on the sphere and demonstrate where our approaches offer improvement.
Moritz Liebl, Jörg Robl, Stefan Hergarten, David Lundbek Egholm, and Kurt Stüwe
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1315–1343, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1315-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1315-2023, 2023
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In this study, we benchmark a topography-based model for glacier erosion (OpenLEM) with a well-established process-based model (iSOSIA). Our experiments show that large-scale erosion patterns and particularly the transformation of valley length geometry from fluvial to glacial conditions are very similar in both models. This finding enables the application of OpenLEM to study the influence of climate and tectonics on glaciated mountains with reasonable computational effort on standard PCs.
James Kent, Thomas Melvin, and Golo Albert Wimmer
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1265–1276, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1265-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1265-2023, 2023
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This paper introduces the Met Office's new shallow water model. The shallow water model is a building block towards the Met Office's new atmospheric dynamical core. The shallow water model is tested on a number of standard spherical shallow water test cases, including flow over mountains and unstable jets. Results show that the model produces similar results to other shallow water models in the literature.
Anthony Gruber, Max Gunzburger, Lili Ju, Rihui Lan, and Zhu Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1213–1229, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1213-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1213-2023, 2023
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This work applies a novel technical tool, multifidelity Monte Carlo (MFMC) estimation, to three climate-related benchmark experiments involving oceanic, atmospheric, and glacial modeling. By considering useful quantities such as maximum sea height and total (kinetic) energy, we show that MFMC leads to predictions which are more accurate and less costly than those obtained by standard methods. This suggests MFMC as a potential drop-in replacement for estimation in realistic climate models.
Piyoosh Jaysaval, Glenn E. Hammond, and Timothy C. Johnson
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 961–976, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-961-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-961-2023, 2023
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We present a robust and highly scalable implementation of numerical forward modeling and inversion algorithms for geophysical electrical resistivity tomography data. The implementation is publicly available and developed within the framework of PFLOTRAN (http://www.pflotran.org), an open-source, state-of-the-art massively parallel subsurface flow and transport simulation code. The paper details all the theoretical and implementation aspects of the new capabilities along with test examples.
Lucas Schauer, Michael J. Schmidt, Nicholas B. Engdahl, Stephen D. Pankavich, David A. Benson, and Diogo Bolster
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 833–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-833-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-833-2023, 2023
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We develop a multi-dimensional, parallelized domain decomposition strategy for mass-transfer particle tracking methods in two and three dimensions, investigate different procedures for decomposing the domain, and prescribe an optimal tiling based on physical problem parameters and the number of available CPU cores. For an optimally subdivided diffusion problem, the parallelized algorithm achieves nearly perfect linear speedup in comparison with the serial run-up to thousands of cores.
John Mern and Jef Caers
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 289–313, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-289-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-289-2023, 2023
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In this work, we formulate the sequential geoscientific data acquisition problem as a problem that is similar to playing chess against nature, except the pieces are not fully observed. Solutions to these problems are given in AI and rarely used in geoscientific data planning. We illustrate our approach to a simple 2D problem of mineral exploration.
Jevgenijs Steinbuks, Yongyang Cai, Jonas Jaegermeyr, and Thomas W. Hertel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-863, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-863, 2023
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This paper applies cutting-edge numerical methods to show how uncertain climate change and technological progress affect the future utilization of the scarce world's land resources. The paper's key insight is to illustrate how much global cropland will expand when future crop yields are unknown. The more uncertain the future crop yields are, the more forest conversion will be necessary to sustain human welfare. Some of that conversion takes place even when crop yields are not actually affected.
Ziqi Gao, Yifeng Wang, Petros Vasilakos, Cesunica E. Ivey, Khanh Do, and Armistead G. Russell
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 9015–9029, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9015-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9015-2022, 2022
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While the national ambient air quality standard of ozone is based on the 3-year average of the fourth highest 8 h maximum (MDA8) ozone concentrations, these predicted extreme values using numerical methods are always biased low. We built four computational models (GAM, MARS, random forest and SVR) to predict the fourth highest MDA8 ozone in Southern California using precursor emissions, meteorology and climatological patterns. All models presented acceptable performance, with GAM being the best.
Zhihao Wang, Jason Goetz, and Alexander Brenning
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8765–8784, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8765-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8765-2022, 2022
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A lack of inventory data can be a limiting factor in developing landslide predictive models, which are crucial for supporting hazard policy and decision-making. We show how case-based reasoning and domain adaptation (transfer-learning techniques) can effectively retrieve similar landslide modeling situations for prediction in new data-scarce areas. Using cases in Italy, Austria, and Ecuador, our findings support the application of transfer learning for areas that require rapid model development.
Till Sachau, Haibin Yang, Justin Lang, Paul D. Bons, and Louis Moresi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8749–8764, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8749-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8749-2022, 2022
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Knowledge of the internal structures of the major continental ice sheets is improving, thanks to new investigative techniques. These structures are an essential indication of the flow behavior and dynamics of ice transport, which in turn is important for understanding the actual impact of the vast amounts of water trapped in continental ice sheets on global sea-level rise. The software studied here is specifically designed to simulate such structures and their evolution.
Keith J. Roberts, Alexandre Olender, Lucas Franceschini, Robert C. Kirby, Rafael S. Gioria, and Bruno S. Carmo
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8639–8667, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8639-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8639-2022, 2022
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Finite-element methods (FEMs) permit the use of more flexible unstructured meshes but are rarely used in full waveform inversions (FWIs), an iterative process that reconstructs velocity models of earth’s subsurface, due to computational and memory storage costs. To reduce those costs, novel software is presented allowing the use of high-order mass-lumped FEMs on triangular meshes, together with a material-property mesh-adaptation performance-enhancing strategy, enabling its use in FWIs.
Konstantinos Papadakis, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, Markku Alho, Maxime Grandin, Maxime Dubart, Lucile Turc, Hongyang Zhou, Konstantinos Horaites, Ivan Zaitsev, Giulia Cozzani, Maarja Bussov, Evgeny Gordeev, Fasil Tesema, Harriet George, Jonas Suni, Vertti Tarvus, and Minna Palmroth
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7903–7912, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, 2022
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Vlasiator is a plasma simulation code that simulates the entire near-Earth space at a global scale. As 6D simulations require enormous amounts of computational resources, Vlasiator uses adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to lighten the computational burden. However, due to Vlasiator’s grid topology, AMR simulations suffer from grid aliasing artifacts that affect the global results. In this work, we present and evaluate the performance of a mechanism for alleviating those artifacts.
Artur Safin, Damien Bouffard, Firat Ozdemir, Cintia L. Ramón, James Runnalls, Fotis Georgatos, Camille Minaudo, and Jonas Šukys
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7715–7730, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7715-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7715-2022, 2022
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Reconciling the differences between numerical model predictions and observational data is always a challenge. In this paper, we investigate the viability of a novel approach to the calibration of a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of Lake Geneva, where the target parameters are inferred in terms of distributions. We employ a filtering technique that generates physically consistent model trajectories and implement a neural network to enable bulk-to-skin temperature conversion.
Colin Grudzien and Marc Bocquet
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7641–7681, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7641-2022, 2022
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Iterative optimization techniques, the state of the art in data assimilation, have largely focused on extending forecast accuracy to moderate- to long-range forecast systems. However, current methodology may not be cost-effective in reducing forecast errors in online, short-range forecast systems. We propose a novel optimization of these techniques for online, short-range forecast cycles, simultaneously providing an improvement in forecast accuracy and a reduction in the computational cost.
Yangyang Yu, Shaoqing Zhang, Haohuan Fu, Lixin Wu, Dexun Chen, Yang Gao, Zhiqiang Wei, Dongning Jia, and Xiaopei Lin
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6695–6708, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6695-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6695-2022, 2022
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To understand the scientific consequence of perturbations caused by slave cores in heterogeneous computing environments, we examine the influence of perturbation amplitudes on the determination of the cloud bottom and cloud top and compute the probability density function (PDF) of generated clouds. A series of comparisons of the PDFs between homogeneous and heterogeneous systems show consistently acceptable error tolerances when using slave cores in heterogeneous computing environments.
Vijay S. Mahadevan, Jorge E. Guerra, Xiangmin Jiao, Paul Kuberry, Yipeng Li, Paul Ullrich, David Marsico, Robert Jacob, Pavel Bochev, and Philip Jones
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6601–6635, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6601-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6601-2022, 2022
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Coupled Earth system models require transfer of field data between multiple components with varying spatial resolutions to determine the correct climate behavior. We present the Metrics for Intercomparison of Remapping Algorithms (MIRA) protocol to evaluate the accuracy, conservation properties, monotonicity, and local feature preservation of four different remapper algorithms for various unstructured mesh problems of interest. Future extensions to more practical use cases are also discussed.
Cited articles
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Short summary
The Voellmy rheology has been widely used for simulating snow and rock avalanches. Recently, a modified version of this rheology was proposed, which turned out to be able to predict the observed long runout of large rock avalanches theoretically. The software MinVoellmy presented here is the first numerical implementation of the modified rheology. It consists of MATLAB and Python classes, where simplicity and parsimony were the design goals.
The Voellmy rheology has been widely used for simulating snow and rock avalanches. Recently, a...
