FV3

Model description

The GFDL Finite Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3) is a scalable and flexible dynamical core capable of both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic atmospheric simulations. The key components of FV3 can be found from the official FV3 website.

Contact

Shiann-Jiann Linn, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa), USA

Data structure

Vertical

The number of vertical levels is chosen as 79. The top of the model is at 3hPa. Both horizontal and vertical grid information can be found from the standard FV3 output files.

Horizontal

FV3 employs horizontal grid spacing of approximately 3.25 km (C3072), comprising 56,623,104 grid columns (3072 by 3072 by 6).

Data access

Model Level Variables (3D), Output Interval: PT03H

Variable	Description	Units	Level	Freq
u	zonal wind	m/s	model level	3h
v	meridional wind	m/s	model level	3h
w	vertical wind	m/s	model level	3h
temp	temperature	K	model level	3h
pres	pressure	Pa	model level	3h
qv	specific humidity	kg/kg	model level	3h
ql	cloud water mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	model level	3h
qi	cloud ice mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	model level	3h
qr	rain mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	model level	3h
qs	snow mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	model level	3h
qg	graupel mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	model level	3h
dp	pressure thickness	Pa	model level	3h
dz	height thickness	m	model level	3h

3D Variables Interpolated to 31 Pressure Levels. Output Interval: PT03H

Variable	Description	Units	Level	Freq
u_plev	zonal wind	m/s	Pressure level	3h
v_plev	meridional wind	m/s	Pressure level	3h
t_plev	temperature	K	Pressure level	3h
h_plev	height	m	Pressure level	3h
q_plev	specific humidity	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
ql_plev	cloud water mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
qi_plev	cloud ice mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
qr_plev	rain mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
qs_plev	snow mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
qg_plev	graupel mass mixing ratio	kg/kg	Pressure level	3h
omg_plev	omega	Pa/s	Pressure level	3h

Selected Horizontal Slices (2D), Output Interval: PT15M

Variable	Description	Units	Level	Freq
u10m	zonal wind at 10m	m/s	10m	15min
v10m	meridional wind at 10m	m/s	10m	15min
t2m	temperature at 2m	K	2m	15min
q2m	specific humidity at 2m	kg/kg	2m	15min
ps	surface pressure	Pa	surface	15min
intqv	vertically integrated water vapor	kg/m^2		15min
intql	vertically integrated cloud water	kg/m^2		15min
intqi	vertically integrated cloud ice	kg/m^2		15min
intqr	vertically integrated rain	kg/m^2		15min
intqs	vertically integrated snow	kg/m^2		15min
intqg	vertically integrated graupel	kg/m^2		15min
cldc	vertically projected cloud cover			15min
lhflx	surface latent heat flux	W/m^2	surface	15min
shflx	surface sensible heat flux	W/m^2	surface	15min
ustrs	surface zonal momentum flux	N/s/m^2	surface	15min
vstrs	surface meridional momentum flux	N/s/m^2	surface	15min
pr	total precipitation (accumulated)	kg/m^2/s	surface	15min
ts	ground temperature	K	surface	15min
qs	surface specific humidity	kg/kg	surface	15min
fsdt	TOA downward shortwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	TOA	15min
fsut	TOA upward shortwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	TOA	15min
flut	TOA upward longwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	TOA	15min
fsds	surface downward shortwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	surface	15min
fsus	surface upward shortwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	surface	15min
flds	surface downward longwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	surface	15min
flus	surface upward longwave (accumulated)	W/m^2	surface	15min
cape	convective available potential energy	J/kg		15min
cin	convective inhibition	J/kg		15min
slp	sea level pressure	Pa	Zero height	15min
tm	300-500hPa mean temperature	K	300-500	15min
rh	relative humidity		500,850,700hPa	15min
vort	vorticity	1/s	850hPa	15min

Initialisation and Boundary conditions

Soil Initialisation

Initial land data (soil temperature, soil moisture, soil type, vegetation type, surface roughness, surface albedo properties, etc.) are from the GFS initial condition at 00Z August 1st, 2016.

Input Data

FV3 uses the IFS initial condition for atmosphere initialisation at August 1st, 2016.

Treatment of SST and Sea Ice

FV3 uses the provided IFS data (7 day means).