Model

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

Grid Resolution

For DYAMOND, MPAS employs the following meshes:

Global mean mesh spacing Number of grid cols
15km 2621442
7.5km 10485762
3.75km 41943042


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

Output List


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


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).