What is it about?
Atmospheric models predict wind currents by considering all the forces acting on each small volume of air or "air parcel." This article describes a new method for accurately calculating the pressure felt on all sides of an irregularly shaped air parcel, of the type that arises in modern grid layouts.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Hillsides and mountain slopes lead to irregularly shaped air parcels in atmospheric models, and this article develops a new method for accurately calculating the effects of pressure on air parcels near topography. This makes a small improvement to each step of a weather forecasting model, which accumulates into a noticeable improvement over the span of a forecast.
Perspectives
Models developed in engineering for computational fluid dynamics are sometimes more advanced than those traditionally used in the atmospheric sciences. This article describes the adaptation of an advanced engineering approach to improve the pressure-gradient force in meteorological models.
Professor Timothy E. Dowling
University of Louisville
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Using 3D finite volume for the pressure-gradient force in atmospheric models, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, April 2012, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/qj.1929.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
