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At least 271 records · Page 15

Automated Detection of Instability-Inducing Channel Geometry Transitions in Saint-Venant Simulation of Large-Scale River Networks

A new sweep-search algorithm (SSA) is developed and tested to identify the channel geometry transitions responsible for numerical convergence failure in a Saint-Venant equation (SVE) simulation of a large-scale open-channel network. Numerical instabilities are known to occur at “sharp” transitions in discrete geometry, but the identification of problem locations has been a matter of modeler’s art and a roadblock to implementing large-scale SVE simulations. The new method implements techniques from graph theory applied to a steady-state 1D shallow-water equation solver to recursively examine the numerical stability of each flowpath through the channel network. The SSA is validated with a short river reach and tested by the simulation of ten complete river systems of the Texas–Gulf Coast region by using the extreme hydrological conditions recorded during hurricane Harvey. The SSA successfully identified the problematic channel sections in all tested river systems. Subsequent modification of the problem sections allowed stable solution by an unsteady SVE numerical solver. The new SSA approach permits automated and consistent identification of problem channel geometry in large open-channel network data sets, which is necessary to effectively apply the fully dynamic Saint-Venant equations to large-scale river networks or for city-wide stormwater networks.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Simulating coupled surface–subsurface flows with ParFlow v3.5.0: capabilities, applications, and ongoing development of an open-source, massively parallel, integrated hydrologic model

Surface flow and subsurface flow constitute a naturally linked hydrologic continuum that has not traditionally been simulated in an integrated fashion. Recognizing the interactions between these systems has encouraged the development of integrated hydrologic models (IHMs) capable of treating surface and subsurface systems as a single integrated resource. IHMs are dynamically evolving with improvements in technology, and the extent of their current capabilities are often only known to the developers and not general users. This article provides an overview of the core functionality, capability, applications, and ongoing development of one open-source IHM, ParFlow. ParFlow is a parallel, integrated, hydrologic model that simulates surface and subsurface flows. ParFlow solves the Richards equation for three-dimensional variably saturated groundwater flow and the two-dimensional kinematic wave approximation of the shallow water equations for overland flow. The model employs a conservative centered finite-difference scheme and a conservative finite-volume method for subsurface flow and transport, respectively. ParFlow uses multigrid-preconditioned Krylov and Newton–Krylov methods to solve the linear and nonlinear systems within each time step of the flow simulations. The code has demonstrated very efficient parallel solution capabilities. ParFlow has been coupled to geochemical reaction, land surface (e.g., the Common Land Model), and atmospheric models to study the interactions among the subsurface, land surface, and atmosphere systems across different spatial scales. This overview focuses on the current capabilities of the code, the core simulation engine, and the primary couplings of the subsurface model to other codes, taking a high-level perspective.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Identifying atmospheric rivers and their poleward latent heat transport with generalizable neural networks: ARCNNv1

Abstract. Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are extreme weather events that can alleviate drought or cause billions of US dollars in flood damage. By transporting significant amounts of latent energy towards the poles, they are crucial to maintaining the climate system's energy balance. Since there is no first-principle definition of an AR grounded in geophysical fluid mechanics, AR identification is currently performed by a multitude of expert-defined, threshold-based algorithms. The variety of AR detection algorithms has introduced uncertainty into the study of ARs, and the thresholds of the algorithms may not generalize to new climate datasets and resolutions. We train convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to detect ARs while representing this uncertainty; we name these models ARCNNs. To detect ARs without requiring new labeled data and labor-intensive AR detection campaigns, we present a semi-supervised learning framework based on image style transfer. This framework generalizes ARCNNs across climate datasets and input fields. Using idealized and realistic numerical models, together with observations, we assess the performance of the ARCNNs. We test the ARCNNs in an idealized simulation of a shallow-water fluid in which nearly all the tracer transport can be attributed to AR-like filamentary structures. In reanalysis and a high-resolution climate model, we use ARCNNs to calculate the contribution of ARs to meridional latent heat transport, and we demonstrate that this quantity varies considerably due to AR detection uncertainty.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

The ocean model for E3SM global applications: Omega version 0.1.0 – a new high-performance computing code for exascale architectures

This paper introduces Omega, the Ocean Model for E3SM Global Applications. Omega is a new ocean model designed to run efficiently on high performance computing (HPC) platforms, including exascale heterogeneous architectures with accelerators, such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Omega is written in C and uses the Kokkos performance portability library. These were chosen because they are well-supported and will help future-proof Omega for upcoming HPC architectures. Omega will eventually replace the Model for Prediction Across Scales-Ocean (MPAS-Ocean) in the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). Omega runs on unstructured horizontal meshes with variable-resolution capability and implements the same horizontal discretization as MPAS-Ocean. This work documents the design and performance of Omega Version 0.1.0 (Omega-V0), which solves the shallow water equations with passive tracers and is the first step towards the full primitive equation ocean model. On Central Processing Units (CPUs), Omega-V0 is 1.4 times faster than MPAS-Ocean with the same configuration. Omega-V0 is more efficient on GPUs than CPUs on a per-watt basis – by a factor of 5.3 on Frontier and 3.6 on Aurora, two of the world's fastest exascale computers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Tides and tsunamis

Although tides and tsunamis are both shallow water waves, it does not follow that they are equally amenable to an observational program using an orbiting altimeter on a satellite. A numerical feasibility investigation using a hypothetical satellite orbit, real tide observations, and sequentially increased levels of white noise has been conducted to study the degradation of the tidal harmonic constants caused by adding noise to the tide data. Tsunami waves, possibly a foot high and one hundred miles long, must be measured in individual orbits, thus requiring high relative resolution.

Zetler, B. D.↗

Automated land-use mapping from spacecraft data

The author has identified the following significant results. In response to the need for a faster, more economical means of producing land use maps, this study evaluated the suitability of using ERTS-1 computer compatible tape (CCT) data as a basis for automatic mapping. Significant findings are: (1) automatic classification accuracy greater than 90% is achieved on categories of deep and shallow water, tended grass, rangeland, extractive (bare earth), urban, forest land, and nonforested wet lands; (2) computer-generated printouts by target class provide a quantitative measure of land use; and (3) the generation of map overlays showing land use from ERTS-1 CCTs offers a significant breakthrough in the rate at which land use maps are generated. Rather than uncorrected classified imagery or computer line printer outputs, the processing results in geometrically-corrected computer-driven pen drawing of land categories, drawn on a transparent material at a scale specified by the operator. These map overlays are economically produced and provide an efficient means of rapidly updating maps showing land use.

Chase, P. E.↗

Requirements for airborne laser systems used in coastal studies

Requirements for airborne laser systems are considered for the following applications: (1) photo-optical determination of shallow water wave spectra; (2) bathymetry in highly turbid waters; (3) chlorophyll concentration monitoring; and (4) oil dispersion mapping.

Klemas, V.↗

Initialization procedures for primitive equation models

A linear analysis and comparison of the damping properties of six dynamic initialization schemes is presented, indicating that the Okamura-Rivas scheme has the most efficient damping properties over the whole frequency range, and suggesting that it should be faster than the other methods and given more stable results. The results obtained with a nonlinear shallow water equations model agree well with the linear analysis. The Okamura-Rivas scheme attains complete balance in the equivalent of 5 to 6 hours of leapfrog forecasting, and requires in this model an order of magnitude less computation than the balance equation solution.

Grant, W. K. F.↗

Evaluation of LANDSAT-2 (ERTS) images applied to geologic structures and mineral resources of South America

The author has identified the following significant results. The Salar of Coposa is located in northern Chile along the frontier with Bolivia. The surface was divided into six general classes of materials. Analysis of LANDSAT image 1243-14001 by use of interactive multispectral computer (Image 100) enabled accurate repetition of these general classes based on reflectance. The Salar of Uyuni is the largest of the South American evaporite deposits. Using image 1243-13595, and parallel piped computer classification of reflectance units, the Salar was divided into nine classes ranging from deep to shallow water, water over salt, salt saturated with water, and several classes of dry salt.

Carter, W. D.↗

A two-dimensional model for the transport of pollutants in an urban basin

The distribution of an inert chemical species, carbon monoxide (CO), emitted mainly from automobile exhaust is investigated. The transport model, in analogy with the shallow water theory in fluid dynamics, considers variation of all physical quantities in the horizontal direction below the temperature inversion layer. Pollutants are found to be carried primarily by the wind; turbulent diffusion in a normal day plays only a minor role. The concentration of CO predicted by the present model for the entire Los Angeles basin is compared with observed data at nine stations. Accuracy of four different numerical schemes, the effect of turbulent diffusivity, and the source strengths are examined.

Liu, C. Y.↗

Updating prediction models by dynamical relaxation - An examination of the technique

A dynamical relaxation technique for updating prediction models is analyzed with the help of the linear and nonlinear barotropic primitive equations. It is assumed that a complete four-dimensional time history of some prescribed subset of the meteorological variables is known. The rate of adaptation of the flow variables toward the true state is determined for a linearized f-model, and for mid-latitude and equatorial beta-plane models. The results of the analysis are corroborated by numerical experiments with the nonlinear shallow-water equations.

Davies, H. C.↗

Lidar: A laser technique for remote sensing

Experimental airborne lidar systems proved to be useful for shallow water bathymetric measurements, and detection and identification of oil slicks and algae. Dye fluorescence applications using organic dyes was studied. The possibility of remotely inducing dye flourescence by means of pulsed lasers opens up several hydrospheric applications for measuring water currents, water temperature, and salinity. Aerosol measurements by lidar are also discussed.

Wilkerson, T. D.↗

A two-dimensional model for the transport of pollutants in an urban basin

The distribution of carbon monoxide emitted mainly from an automobile exhaust is investigated. Carbon monoxide is assumed to be chemically inert. The transport model, in analogy with the shallow-water theory in fluid dynamics, considers variation of all physical quantities in the horizontal direction below the temperature inversion layer. Pollutants are found to be carried primarily by the wind; turbulent diffusion in a normal day plays only a minor role. The concentration of CO predicted by the present model for the entire Los Angeles basin is compared with observed data at nine stations. Accuracy of four different numerical schemes, the effect of turbulent diffusivity, and the source strengths are examined.

Liu, C. Y.↗

Experiments on strong interactions between solitary waves

Experiments on the interaction between solitary shallow-water waves propagating in the same direction have been performed in a rectangular channel. Two methods were devised to compensate for the dissipation of the waves in order to compare results with Hirota's (1971) solution for the collision of solitons described by the Korteweg-de Vries equation. Both qualitative and quantitative agreement with theory is obtained using the proposed corrections for wave damping.

Weidman, P. D.↗

Description and field test of an in situ coliform monitoring system

A prototype in situ system for monitoring the levels of fecal coliforms in shallow water bodies was developed and evaluated. This system was based on the known relationship between the concentration of the coliform bacteria and the amount of hydrogen they produce during growth in a complex organic media. The prototype system consists of a sampler platform, which sits on the bottom; a surface buoy, which transmits sampler-generated data; and a shore station, which receives, displays the data, and controls the sampler. The concept of remote monitoring of fecal coliform concentrations by utilizing a system based on the electrochemical method was verified during the evaluation of the prototype.

Grana, D. C.↗

On the influence of orography on large-scale atmospheric flow

The steady response to orography as described by shallow-water equations on the sphere is examined in an attempt to provide insight into the dynamical effects of large-scale orographic features on atmospheric motion. The model equations and the zonal flows and orography used in the study are described. The results for simple mountains and for the earth orography are given. The two-dimensional nature of the horizontal propagation on the sphere is emphasized. The results give interesting indications of the regions of influence of mountains and suggest that quantitative theories of the stationary waves must involve a full representation of the spherical domain.

Grose, W. L.↗