Grids

ClimaAtmos.jl provides several grid constructors to set up the domain layout for simulations. These grids handle the creation of the underlying ClimaCore meshes, topologies, and spaces, including optional topography.

Available Grids

SphereGrid

The SphereGrid creates a grid on a cubed-sphere domain, suitable for global atmospheric simulations.

using ClimaAtmos
grid = SphereGrid(
    Float64;
    z_elem = 10,
    radius = 6.371229e6,
    h_elem = 6,
)

ExtrudedFiniteDifferenceGrid:
  horizontal:
    context: SingletonCommsContext using CPUSingleThreaded
    mesh: 6×6×6-element EquiangularCubedSphere of SphereDomain: radius = 6.371229e6
    quadrature: 4-point Gauss-Legendre-Lobatto quadrature
  vertical:
    mesh: 10-element IntervalMesh of IntervalDomain: z ∈ [0.0,30000.0] (:bottom, :top)

BoxGrid

The BoxGrid creates a 3D Cartesian box grid.

grid = BoxGrid(
    Float64;
    x_elem = 6,
    x_max = 300000.0,
    y_elem = 6,
    y_max = 300000.0,
    z_elem = 10,
    z_max = 30000.0,
)

ExtrudedFiniteDifferenceGrid:
  horizontal:
    context: SingletonCommsContext using CPUSingleThreaded
    mesh: 6×6-element RectilinearMesh of RectangleDomain: x ∈ [0.0,300000.0] (periodic) × y ∈ [0.0,300000.0] (periodic)
    quadrature: 4-point Gauss-Legendre-Lobatto quadrature
  vertical:
    mesh: 10-element IntervalMesh of IntervalDomain: z ∈ [0.0,30000.0] (:bottom, :top)

ColumnGrid

The ColumnGrid creates a single column grid, used for Single Column Models (SCM).

grid = ColumnGrid(
    Float64;
    z_elem = 10,
    z_max = 30000.0,
)

FiniteDifferenceGrid:
  vertical:
    mesh: 10-element IntervalMesh of IntervalDomain: z ∈ [0.0,30000.0] (:bottom, :top)

PlaneGrid

The PlaneGrid creates a 2D (x-z) plane grid.

grid = PlaneGrid(
    Float64;
    x_elem = 6,
    x_max = 300000.0,
    z_elem = 10,
    z_max = 30000.0,
)

ExtrudedFiniteDifferenceGrid:
  horizontal:
    context: SingletonCommsContext using CPUSingleThreaded
    mesh: 6-element IntervalMesh of IntervalDomain: x ∈ [0.0,300000.0] (periodic)
    quadrature: 4-point Gauss-Legendre-Lobatto quadrature
  vertical:
    mesh: 10-element IntervalMesh of IntervalDomain: z ∈ [0.0,30000.0] (:bottom, :top)

Mesh Ordering

When constructing grids, ClimaAtmos uses a space-filling curve to order the elements. This improves memory locality.

Here is an example visualizing the space-filling curve for a small BoxGrid: