Development of a non-hydrostatic atmospheric model using the Chimera grid method for a steep terrain

Abstract

In a high-resolution atmospheric model, the terrain is resolved in detail, and thus steeper and more complex terrain can be represented. Thus, we developed an atmospheric model that represents the terrain by using the Chimera grid method, which represents the computational region as a composite of overlapping grids. To test this model, we simulated a lee wave over a semicircular mountain and one over a tall semi-elliptical mountain. The results show that the Chimera grid method can be used to represent a very steep terrain which terrain-following coordinates and numerically generated coordinates cannot represent appropriately.