Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.
The aim of this session is to describe alternative (to the semi-Lagrangian) numerical techniques for integrating the transport equation sets encountered in NWP models. We will present an overview
of different Eulerian
time-stepping techniques and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach
Expand
titleAdvanced Numerical Methods

The success of the spectral transform method in global NWP in comparison to alternative methods has been overwhelming, with many operational forecast centres (including ECMWF) having madethe spectral transform their method of choice. The lecture will introduce the basic elements of the spectral transform, explain why it has been successful and describe recent developments such as
the fast Legendre transform.
By the end of the
Multiexcerpt
MultiExcerptNameNMtime
10.35
Using the 30-year history of ECMWF's Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) as an example, thelecture is an introduction to the development and current state-of-the-art of global numerical weather prediction (NWP), as well as to the challenges faced in the future. It is intended to provide
an overview and context for the topics covered in more detail during the course.
By the end of the :
  •   describe the development of global NWP, the current-state-of-the-art, and future challenges
  •   identify relevant areas of research in numerical methods for Earth-System Modelling
  •   put into context every subsequent lecture and its purpose

Nils Wedi

 

TimeMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
9.15

Introductions

Expand
titleAlgorithms for semi-implicit integrations of nonhydrostatic PDEs of atmospheric dynamics (1)

The aim of this lecture is to systematically build theoretical foundations for Numerical Weather Prediction at nonhydrostatic resolutions. In the first part of the lecture, we will discuss a suite of all-scale nonhydrostatic PDEs, including the anelastic, the pseudo-incompressible and the fully compressible Euler equations of atmospheric dynamics. First we will introduce the three sets of nonhydrostatic governing equations written in a physically intuitive Cartesian vector form, in abstraction from the model geometry and the coordinate frame adopted. Then, we will combine the three sets into a single set recast in a form of the conservation laws consistent with the problem geometry and the unified solution procedure. In the second part of the lecture, we will build and document the common numerical algorithm for integrating the generalised set of the governing PDEs put forward in the first part of the lecture. Then, we will compare soundproof and compressible solutions and demonstrate the efficacy of this unified numerical framework for two idealised flow problems relevant to weather and climate.

By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

  • explain the form, properties and role of alternative systems of nonhydrostatic PDEs for all scale atmospheric dynamics;

  • explain the importance and key aspects of continuous mappings employed in all-scale atmospheric models;

  • explain the difference between the explicit and semi-implicit algorithms for integrating nonhydrostatic PDEs, the importance of consistent numerical approximations, and the fundamental role of transport and elliptic solvers.

Piotr Smolarkiewicz



Expand
titleHydrostatic/Non-hydrostatic dynamics, resolved/permitted convection and interfacing to physical parameterizationsThe semi-Lagrangian, semi-implicit technique of the ECMWF model
The aim of this session is to describe the numerical technique used in the ECMWF model for integrating the transport equations of the hydrostatic primitive equation set. We will present an overview of the semi-Lagrangian method and how it is combined with semi-implicit time-stepping to provide a stable and accurate formulation for the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS)

During this presentation, we will discuss two of the questions faced by numerical weather prediction scientists as forecast models reach horizontal resolutions of 6 to 2 km:

  • Do we need to abandon the primitive equations for a non-hydrostatic system of equations?

  • Do we still need a deep convection parametrisation?

  • and we will show what answers to these questions are given by very high resolution simulations of the IFS
    .

    By the end of
    the presentation,
    this session you should be able to:
    discuss
    • describe the
    limits of the hydrostatic approximation for numerical weather prediction
  • explain the dilemma of parametrizing deep convection versus permitting explicit deep convection at resolution in the grey zone of convection

    • fundamental concepts of semi-Lagrangian advection schemes, their strengths and weaknesses
    • describe semi-implicit time-stepping and its use in IFS   
    • explain the important role these two techniques play for the efficiency of the current IFS system
    •  explain the impact that future super-computing architectures may have in the applicability of the semi-Lagrangian  technique in high resolution non-hydrostatic global NWP systems.

    Michail DiamantakisSylvie Malardel

     


     

    Expand
    titleDiscontinuous higher order discretization methods

    The aim of this session is to learn about recent developments in discontinuous higher order spatial discretization methods, such as the Discontinuous Galerkin method (DG), and the Spectral Difference method (SD). These methods are of interest because they can be used on unstructured meshes and facilitate optimal parallel efficiency. We will present an overview of higher order grid point methods for discretizing partial differential equations (PDE's) with compact stencil support, and illustrate a practical implementation.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • ell what are the advantages offered by discontinuous higher order methods

    • describe how to solve PDE's with discontinuous methods

    • identify the key elements that contribute to a PDE solver

     

    Willem Deconinck

     

    Expand
    title
    Numerics + Discretization in NWP today
    Massively parallel computing for NWP and climate

    The aim of this session is to understand the main issues and challenges in parallel computing, and how parallel computers are programmed today.

    By the end of this

    session you should be able to

    Expand
    titleAlgorithms for semi-implicit integrations of nonhydrostatic PDEs of atmospheric dynamics (2)

    The aim of this lecture is to systematically build theoretical foundations for Numerical Weather Prediction at nonhydrostatic resolutions. In the first part of the lecture, we will discuss a suite of all-scale nonhydrostatic PDEs, including the anelastic, the pseudo-incompressible and the fully compressible Euler equations of atmospheric dynamics. First we will introduce the three sets of nonhydrostatic governing equations written in a physically intuitive Cartesian vector form, in abstraction from the model geometry and the coordinate frame adopted. Then, we will combine the three sets into a single set recast in a form of the conservation laws consistent with the problem geometry and the unified solution procedure. In the second part of the lecture, we will build and document the common numerical algorithm for integrating the generalised set of the governing PDEs put forward in the first part of the lecture. Then, we will compare soundproof and compressible solutions and demonstrate the efficacy of this unified numerical framework for two idealised flow problems relevant to weather and climate.

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • explain the form, properties and role of alternative systems of nonhydrostatic PDEs for all scale atmospheric dynamics;

    • explain the importance and key aspects of continuous mappings employed in all-scale atmospheric models;

    • explain the difference between the explicit and semi-implicit algorithms for integrating nonhydrostatic PDEs, the importance of consistent numerical approximations, and the fundamental role of transport and elliptic solvers.

     

    Piotr Smolarkiewicz

     

    Expand
    titleMesh adaptivity using continuous mappings

    The goal of this session is to provide an overview of the use of generalised curvilinear coordinates in atmospheric numerical models.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • describe some important aspects of the formulation and implementation of the governing equations in generalised coordinates

    • describe various vertical coordinates employed in atmospheric models

    • indicate the use of generalised coordinates to employ moving mesh adaptivity

     

    Christian Kühnlein

    Expand
    titleDiscontinuous higher order discretization methods

    The aim of this session is to learn about recent developments in discontinuous higher order spatial discretization methods, such as the Discontinuous Galerkin method (DG), and the Spectral Difference method (SD). These methods are of interest because they can be used on unstructured meshes and facilitate optimal parallel efficiency. We will present an overview of higher order grid point methods for discretizing partial differential equations (PDE's) with compact stencil support, and illustrate a practical implementation.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • ell what are the advantages offered by discontinuous higher order methods

    • describe how to solve PDE's with discontinuous methods

    • identify the key elements that contribute to a PDE solver

    Willem Deconinck

    11.45
    Expand
    titleIntroduction to semi-implicit integrations of nonhydrostatic PDEs of atmospheric dynamics

    By the end of this session you should be able to:

    Piotr Smolarkiewicz

     

    • explain the difference between shared and distributed memory

    • describe the key architectural features of a supercomputer

    • describe the purpose of OpenMP and MPI on today’s supercomputers

    • identify the reasons for the use of accelerator technology

    Andreas Müller

     

    10.35
    Expand
    titleNumerics + Discretization in NWP today
    Using the 30-year history of ECMWF's Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) as an example, thelecture is an introduction to the development and current state-of-the-art of global numerical weather prediction (NWP), as well as to the challenges faced in the future. It is intended to provide
    an overview and context for the topics covered in more detail during the course.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:
    •   describe the development of global NWP, the current-state-of-the-art, and future challenges
    •   identify relevant areas of research in numerical methods for Earth-System Modelling
    •   put into context every subsequent lecture and its purpose

    Nils Wedi

     

    Expand
    titleAlgorithms for semi-implicit integrations of nonhydrostatic PDEs of atmospheric dynamics (2)

    The aim of this lecture is to systematically build theoretical foundations for Numerical Weather Prediction at nonhydrostatic resolutions. In the first part of the lecture, we will discuss a suite of all-scale nonhydrostatic PDEs, including the anelastic, the pseudo-incompressible and the fully compressible Euler equations of atmospheric dynamics. First we will introduce the three sets of nonhydrostatic governing equations written in a physically intuitive Cartesian vector form, in abstraction from the model geometry and the coordinate frame adopted. Then, we will combine the three sets into a single set recast in a form of the conservation laws consistent with the problem geometry and the unified solution procedure. In the second part of the lecture, we will build and document the common numerical algorithm for integrating the generalised set of the governing PDEs put forward in the first part of the lecture. Then, we will compare soundproof and compressible solutions and demonstrate the efficacy of this unified numerical framework for two idealised flow problems relevant to weather and climate.

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • explain the form, properties and role of alternative systems of nonhydrostatic PDEs for all scale atmospheric dynamics;

    • explain the importance and key aspects of continuous mappings employed in all-scale atmospheric models;

    • explain the difference between the explicit and semi-implicit algorithms for integrating nonhydrostatic PDEs, the importance of consistent numerical approximations, and the fundamental role of transport and elliptic solvers.

    Piotr Smolarkiewicz

    Practical Session

     

    Practical Session (elliptic solvers)

    Andreas Müller, Willem Deconinck, Christian Kühnlein

    Expand
    titleMassively parallel computing for NWP and climateDiscontinuous higher order discretization methods

    The aim of this session is to understand the main issues and challenges in parallel computing, and how parallel computers are programmed todaylearn about recent developments in discontinuous higher order spatial discretization methods, such as the Discontinuous Galerkin method (DG), and the Spectral Difference method (SD). These methods are of interest because they can be used on unstructured meshes and facilitate optimal parallel efficiency. We will present an overview of higher order grid point methods for discretizing partial differential equations (PDE's) with compact stencil support, and illustrate a practical implementation.

    By the end of this the session you should be able to:

    • explain the difference between shared and distributed memory

    • describe the key architectural features of a supercomputer

    • describe the purpose of OpenMP and MPI on today’s supercomputers

    • identify the reasons for the use of accelerator technology

     

    George Mozdzynski

    • ell what are the advantages offered by discontinuous higher order methods

    • describe how to solve PDE's with discontinuous methods

    • identify the key elements that contribute to a PDE solver

    Willem Deconinck

    Expand
    titleReduced Precision Computing for Earth System Modelling

    The aim of this session is to

    By the end of this session you should be able to

    • explain

    Peter Düben

     

    11.45
    Expand
    titleIntroduction to semi-implicit integrations of nonhydrostatic PDEs of atmospheric dynamics

    By the end of this

    Course wrap up and Certificates14.00
    Expand
    titleThe spectral transform method

    session you should be able to:

    Piotr Smolarkiewicz

     

     explain what the spectral transform method is, how it is applied, and describe the latest developments at ECMWF.
    •   give reasons why it is successful for global NWP and climate.
    •   identify potential disadvantages of the method.

    Nils Wedi

     

     

    Practical Session (elliptic solvers)

    Andreas Müller, Willem Deconinck, Christian Kühnlein

    Practical Session

    Willem Deconinck, Christian Kühnlein

    Expand
    titleOperational and research activities at ECMWF now/in the future

    In this lecture we will give you a brief history of ECMWF and present the main areas of NWP research that is currently being carried out in the centre. We then look at current research challenges and present some of the latest developments that will soon become operational

    Expand
    titleThe semi-Lagrangian, semi-implicit technique of the ECMWF model
    The aim of this session is to describe the numerical technique used in the ECMWF model for integrating the transport equations of the hydrostatic primitive equation set. We will present an overview of the semi-Lagrangian method and how it is combined with semi-implicit time-stepping to provide a stable and accurate formulation for the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS)

    .

    By the end of

    this session

    the lecture you should be able to:

    • describe the fundamental concepts of semi-Lagrangian advection schemes, their strengths and weaknesses
    • describe semi-implicit time-stepping and its use in IFS   
    • explain the important role these two techniques play for the efficiency of the current IFS system
    •  explain the impact that future super-computing architectures may have in the applicability of the semi-Lagrangian  technique in high resolution non-hydrostatic global NWP systems.

     

    Michail Diamantakis

    • List the main research areas at ECMWF and describe the latest model developments.

    Sarah Keeley and Erland Källén

     

    Course wrap up and Certificates
    14.00
    Expand
    titleThe spectral transform method
    The success of the spectral transform method in global NWP in comparison to alternative methods has been overwhelming, with many operational forecast centres (including ECMWF) having madethe spectral transform their method of choice. The lecture will introduce the basic elements of the spectral transform, explain why it has been successful and describe recent developments such as
    the fast Legendre transform
    Expand
    titleEulerian time-stepping schemes for NWP and climate
    .

    By the end of the session you should be able to:
    •   
    recognize the basic differences between semi-Lagrangian and Eulerian  approaches
  • describe differences, strengths-weaknesses of different time-stepping approaches such as split-explicit time-stepping, Runge-Kutta time-stepping
    • describe the basic features of different time-stepping schemes used in other weather forecasting models such as WRF, ICON

     

    Michail Diamantakis

     

    Expand
    titleIntroduction to element based computing, finite volume and finite element methods

    The aim of two lectures is to introduce basis of finite volume and continuous finite element discretisations and relate them to corresponding data structures and mesh generation techniques. The main focus will be on unstructured meshes and their application to global and local atmospheric models. Flexibility, communication overheads, memory requirements and user friendliness of such meshes with be contrasted with those of structured meshes. The most commonly used mesh generation techniques will be highlighted, together with mesh manipulation techniques employed in mesh adaption approaches and will be followed by a discussion of alternative geometrical representations of orography. An example of unstructured meshes’ implementation to non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic atmospheric solvers will provide an illustration of their potential and challenges.

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • understand applicability, advantages and disadvantages of selected mesh generation techniques for a given type of application.

    • appreciate importance of data structures in relation to atmospheric models and mesh generation.

    • gain awareness of issues related to flexible mesh generation and adaption.

     

    Joanna Szmelter

    • explain what the spectral transform method is, how it is applied, and describe the latest developments at ECMWF.
    •   give reasons why it is successful for global NWP and climate.
    •   identify potential disadvantages of the method.

    Nils Wedi



    Expand
    titleEulerian time-stepping schemes for NWP and climate
    The aim of this session is to describe alternative (to the semi-Lagrangian) numerical techniques for integrating the transport equation sets encountered in NWP models. We will present an overview
    of different Eulerian
    time-stepping techniques and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:
    •  recognize the basic differences between semi-Lagrangian and Eulerian  approaches
    • describe differences, strengths-weaknesses of different time-stepping approaches such as split-explicit time-stepping, Runge-Kutta time-stepping
    • describe the basic features of different time-stepping schemes used in other weather forecasting models such as WRF, ICON

    Michail Diamantakis

     

    Expand
    titleHydrostatic/Non-hydrostatic dynamics, resolved/permitted convection and interfacing to physical parameterizations

    During this presentation, we will discuss two of the questions faced by numerical weather prediction scientists as forecast models reach horizontal resolutions of 6 to 2 km:

    • Do we need to abandon the primitive equations for a non-hydrostatic system of equations?

    • Do we still need a deep convection parametrisation?

    • and we will show what answers to these questions are given by very high resolution simulations of the IFS.

    By the end of the presentation, you should be able to:

    • discuss the limits of the hydrostatic approximation for numerical weather prediction

    • explain the dilemma of parametrizing deep convection versus permitting explicit deep convection at resolution in the grey zone of convection

    Sylvie Malardel

     



    Expand
    titleIntroduction to element based computing, finite volume and finite element methods

    The aim of two lectures is to introduce basis of finite volume and continuous finite element discretisations and relate them to corresponding data structures and mesh generation techniques. The main focus will be on unstructured meshes and their application to global and local atmospheric models. Flexibility, communication overheads, memory requirements and user friendliness of such meshes with be contrasted with those of structured meshes. The most commonly used mesh generation techniques will be highlighted, together with mesh manipulation techniques employed in mesh adaption approaches and will be followed by a discussion of alternative geometrical representations of orography. An example of unstructured meshes’ implementation to non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic atmospheric solvers will provide an illustration of their potential and challenges.

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • understand applicability, advantages and disadvantages of selected mesh generation techniques for a given type of application.

    • appreciate importance of data structures in relation to atmospheric models and mesh generation.

    • gain awareness of issues related to flexible mesh generation and adaption.

    Joanna Szmelter

     15.30
    Expand
    titleVertical discretisation

    The goal of this session is to provide an overview of the use of generalised curvilinear coordinates in atmospheric numerical models.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • describe some important aspects of the formulation and implementation of the governing equations in generalised coordinates

    • describe various vertical coordinates employed in atmospheric models

    • indicate the use of generalised coordinates to employ moving mesh adaptivity

    Christian Kühnlein

     


    Expand
    titleMesh adaptivity using continuous mappings

    The goal of this session is to provide an overview of the use of generalised curvilinear coordinates in atmospheric numerical models.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • describe some important aspects of the formulation and implementation of the governing equations in generalised coordinates

    • describe various vertical coordinates employed in atmospheric models

    • indicate the use of generalised coordinates to employ moving mesh adaptivity

    Christian Kühnlein
    Expand
    titleHydrostatic/Non-hydrostatic dynamics, resolved/permitted convection and interfacing to physical parameterizations

    During this presentation, we will discuss two of the questions faced by numerical weather prediction scientists as forecast models reach horizontal resolutions of 6 to 2 km:

    • Do we need to abandon the primitive equations for a non-hydrostatic system of equations?

    • Do we still need a deep convection parametrisation?

    • and we will show what answers to these questions are given by very high resolution simulations of the IFS.

    By the end of the presentation, you should be able to:

    • discuss the limits of the hydrostatic approximation for numerical weather prediction

    • explain the dilemma of parametrizing deep convection versus permitting explicit deep convection at resolution in the grey zone of convection

    Sylvie Malardel

     


    Expand
    titleMesh generation

    The aim of two lectures is to introduce basis of finite volume and continuous finite element discretisations and relate them to corresponding data structures and mesh generation techniques. The main focus will be on unstructured meshes and their application to global and local atmospheric models. Flexibility, communication overheads, memory requirements and user friendliness of such meshes with be contrasted with those of structured meshes. The most commonly used mesh generation techniques will be highlighted, together with mesh manipulation techniques employed in mesh adaption approaches and will be followed by a discussion of alternative geometrical representations of orography. An example of unstructured meshes’ implementation to non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic atmospheric solvers will provide an illustration of their potential and challenges

    Expand
    titleMassively parallel computing for NWP and climate

    The aim of this session is to understand the main issues and challenges in parallel computing, and how parallel computers are programmed today.

    By the end of this session you should be able to

    • explain the difference between shared and distributed memory

    • describe the key architectural features of a supercomputer

    • describe the purpose of OpenMP and MPI on today’s supercomputers

    • identify the reasons for the use of accelerator technology

     

    George Mozdzynski

     

     

    15.30
    Expand
    titleVertical discretisation

    The goal of this session is to provide an overview of the use of generalised curvilinear coordinates in atmospheric numerical models.

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • describe some important aspects of the formulation and implementation of the governing equations in generalised coordinates

    • describe various vertical coordinates employed in atmospheric models

    • indicate the use of generalised coordinates to employ moving mesh adaptivity

     

    Christian Kühnlein

     

    Expand
    titleMesh adaptivity using continuous mappings

    The goal of this session is to provide

    By the end of the session you should be able to:

    • d

     

    Christian Kühnlein
    Expand
    titleHydrostatic/Non-hydrostatic dynamics, resolved/permitted convection and interfacing to physical parameterizations

    During this presentation, we will discuss two of the questions faced by numerical weather prediction scientists as forecast models reach horizontal resolutions of 6 to 2 km:

    • Do we need to abandon the primitive equations for a non-hydrostatic system of equations?

    • Do we still need a deep convection parametrisation?

    • and we will show what answers to these questions are given by very high resolution simulations of the IFS.

    By the end of the presentation, you should be able to:

    • discuss the limits of the hydrostatic approximation for numerical weather prediction

    • explain the dilemma of parametrizing deep convection versus permitting explicit deep convection at resolution in the grey zone of convection

    Sylvie Malardel

     

     

    Expand
    titleMesh generation

    The aim of two lectures is to introduce basis of finite volume and continuous finite element discretisations and relate them to corresponding data structures and mesh generation techniques. The main focus will be on unstructured meshes and their application to global and local atmospheric models. Flexibility, communication overheads, memory requirements and user friendliness of such meshes with be contrasted with those of structured meshes. The most commonly used mesh generation techniques will be highlighted, together with mesh manipulation techniques employed in mesh adaption approaches and will be followed by a discussion of alternative geometrical representations of orography. An example of unstructured meshes’ implementation to non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic atmospheric solvers will provide an illustration of their potential and challenges.

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • understand applicability, advantages and disadvantages of selected mesh generation techniques for a given type of application.

    • appreciate importance of data structures in relation to atmospheric models and mesh generation.

    • gain awareness of issues related to flexible mesh generation and adaption.

    Joanna Szmelter

     

    Expand
    titleOperational and research activities at ECMWF now/in the future
    In this lecture we will give you a brief history of ECMWF and present the main areas of NWP research that is currently being carried out in the centre. We then look at current research challenges and present some of the latest developments that will soon become operational

    .

    By the end of the lecture you should be able to:

    • List the main research areas at ECMWF and describe the latest model developments.
    • understand applicability, advantages and disadvantages of selected mesh generation techniques for a given type of application.

    • appreciate importance of data structures in relation to atmospheric models and mesh generation.

    • gain awareness of issues related to flexible mesh generation and adaption.

    Joanna Szmelter

    Sarah Keeley and Erland Källén