Models
We like to use models. This is a list of current and past numerical models we have used for research.
SAM (System for Atmospheric Modeling)
SAM is originally described in Khairoutdinov and Randall (2003). The model solves the anelastic system of momentum equations and is commonly run as a cloud resolving model (CRM) with a grid spacing on the order of one kilometer to hundreds of kilometers, or as a large eddy simulation (LES) with a grid spacing near one hundred meters or finer. The model was designed to take advantage of parallel processing and can be run on a single processor or thousands of processors. The GigaLES was a benchmark simulation of tropical precipitating convection performed using SAM in LES mode. SAM is also used as part of the multi-scale modeling framework (MMF), also known as super-parameterization, in which a CRM is embedded in each grid column of a general circulation model (GCM) in place of its cumulus parameterization.
In our group, Ian Glenn has used the GigaLES output from SAM to study entrainment and subsiding shells around convective updrafts. Pete Bogenschutz previously used the same GigaLES output to develop and evaluate a probability density function (PDF) based turbulence parameterization called SHOC (Simplified Higher Order Closure).
In our group, Ian Glenn has used the GigaLES output from SAM to study entrainment and subsiding shells around convective updrafts. Pete Bogenschutz previously used the same GigaLES output to develop and evaluate a probability density function (PDF) based turbulence parameterization called SHOC (Simplified Higher Order Closure).
SP-Cam (Super parameterized - Community atmosphere model)
CAM was developed primarily by the National Corporation of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) as a global atmosphere model used for climate simulations. SP-CAM is the super-parameterized version, created as one of the research objectives of the Center for Multi-scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP). CMMAP is a National Science Foundation 10-year initiative led by Dave Randall at Colorado State University, with the active participation of more than 20 other research universities and meteorological agencies in the United States, including Steve Krueger at the University of Utah.