MPAS#

Model description#

MPAS is an atmospheric model that consists of an atmospheric fluid-flow solver (the dynamical core) and a subset of the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) model atmospheric physics. The dynamical core solves the fully compressible non-hydrostatic equations of motion. MPAS uses an unstructured centroidal Voronoi mesh (grid, or tessellation) and C-grid staggering of the state variables as the basis for the horizontal discretisation in the fluid-flow solver. For a more detailed description, see Skamarock et al. 2012.

Contact#

Falko Judt, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), USA

Data structure#

Note

Use cdo -setgrid,mpas:/fastdata/ka1081/DYAMOND/data/summer_data/POSTPROC/\ GridsAndWeights/MPAS_x1.41943042.grid.nc INFILE OUTFILE to set the grid for the 3.5 km model. Use MPAS_x1.10485762.grid.nc for the 7.5 km version.

Horizontal#

For DYAMOND, MPAS employs the following meshes:

Global mean

mesh spacing

Number of

grid cols

15km

2621442

7.5km

10485762

3.75km

41943042

Vertical#

The number of vertical levels is 75. A detailed list can be found here.

Data access#

History Files, Output Interval: PT03H

Output will be written for all levels.

uReconstructZonal

zonal component of horizontal velocity

vReconstructMeridional

meriodonal component of horizontal velocity

w

vertical velocity

temperature

actual temperature

pressure

pressure

qv

water vapor mixing ratio

qc

cloud water mixing ratio

qi

ice mixing ratio

qr

rain water mixing ratio

qs

snow mixing ratio

qg

graupel mixing ratio

ni

cloud ice number concentration

nr

rain number concentration

skintemp

ground or water surface temperature

sst

sea-surface temperature

snow

snow water equivalent

snowh

physical snow depth

vegfra

vegetation fraction

sh2o

soil equivalent liquid water

smois

soil moisture

tslb

soil layer temperature

Diagnostics Files, Output Interval: PT15M

taux

surface zonal momentum flux, in N m^{-2}

tauy

surface meridional momentum flux, in N m^{-2}

olrtoa

top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation flux, in W m^{-2}

cldcvr

cloud cover, here taken as the maximum of the 3D field cloudfraction along the vertical dimension, unitless

vert_int_qv

vertically integrated water vapor mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

vert_int_qc

vertically integrated cloud water mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

vert_int_qr

vertically integrated rain mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

vert_int_qi

vertically integrated ice mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

vert_int_qs

vertically integrated snow mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

vert_int_qg

vertically integrated graupel mixing ratio, in kg m^{-2}

refl10cm_1km

diagnosed 10 cm radar reflectivity at 1 km AGL, in dBZ

precipw

precipitable water, in kg m^{-2}

u10

10-meter zonal wind, in m s^{-1}

v10

10-meter meridional wind, in m s^{-1}

q2

2-meter specific humidity, in kg kg^{-1}

t2m

2-meter temperature, in K

th2m

2-meter potential temperature, in K

mslp

mean sea-level pressure, in Pa

relhum_200hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in %

relhum_250hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in %

relhum_500hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in %

relhum_700hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in %

relhum_850hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in %

relhum_925hPa

relative humidity vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in %

dewpoint_200hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in K

dewpoint_250hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in K

dewpoint_500hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in K

dewpoint_700hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in K

dewpoint_850hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in K

dewpoint_925hPa

dewpoint temperature vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in K

temperature_200hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in K

temperature_250hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in K

temperature_500hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in K

temperature_700hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in K

temperature_850hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in K

temperature_925hPa

temperature vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in K

height_200hPa

geometric height interpolated to 200 hPa, in m

height_250hPa

geometric height interpolated to 250 hPa, in m

height_500hPa

geometric height interpolated to 500 hPa, in m

height_700hPa

geometric height interpolated to 700 hPa, in m

height_850hPa

geometric height interpolated to 850 hPa, in m

height_925hPa

geometric height interpolated to 925 hPa, in m

uzonal_200hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in m/s

uzonal_250hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in m/s

uzonal_500hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in m/s

uzonal_700hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in m/s

uzonal_850hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in m/s

uzonal_925hPa

zonal wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_200hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_250hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_500hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_700hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_850hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in m/s

umeridional_925hPa

meridional wind at cell centers, vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in m/s

w_200hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in m/s

w_250hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in m/s

w_500hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in m/s

w_700hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in m/s

w_850hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in m/s

w_925hPa

vertical velocity vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in m/s

omega_200hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

omega_250hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

omega_500hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

omega_700hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

omega_850hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

omega_925hPa

pressure velocity vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in Pa s^{-1}

vorticity_200hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 200 hPa, in s^{-1}

vorticity_250hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 250 hPa, in s^{-1}

vorticity_500hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 500 hPa, in s^{-1}

vorticity_700hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 700 hPa, in s^{-1}

vorticity_850hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 850 hPa, in s^{-1}

vorticity_925hPa

relative vorticity vertically interpolated to 925 hPa, in s^{-1}

cape

convective available potential energy with respect to surface parcel, in J kg^{-1}

cin

convective inhibition with respect to surface parcel, in J kg^{-1}

acswupb

accumulated all-sky upward surface shortwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

acswdnb

accumulated all-sky downward surface shortwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

acswnetb

accumulated all-sky net surface shortwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

acswdnt

accumulated all-sky downward top-of-atmosphere shortwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

acswnett

accumulated all-sky net top-of-atmosphere shortwave radiation, in J m^{-2}

aclwupb

accumulated all-sky upward surface longwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

aclwdnb

accumulated all-sky downward surface longwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

aclwnetb

accumulated all-sky net surface longwave radiation, in J m^{-2}

aclwupt

accumulated all-sky upward surface longwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

aclwdnt

accumulated clear-sky downward surface longwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

aclwnett

accumulated all-sky net top-of-atmosphere longwave radiation flux, in J m^{-2}

rainc

accumulated convective precipitation, in mm

rainnc

accumulated total grid-scale precipitation, in mm

Initialisation and Boundary conditions#

Soil Initialisation#

Soil initialisation is done via ERA-5.

Input Data#

Input data are generated from ERA-5.

Treatment of SST and Sea Ice#

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

See also#