NICAM - Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral
Atmospheric Model

13 Sep 2008 (7km-NICAM by H.L.Tanaka)

Masaki Satoh (AORI, the Univ. of Tokyo)
Virtual Laboratory Seminar on Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral
Atmospheric Model (NICAM) Feb. 23-24, 2012

Group web page http://nicam.jp

Contents• NICAM• Main outcomes of the 5-years researches• Recent results from NICAM simulations– 3.5km mesh NICAM simulation for TC Fengshen(June 2008)• Tropical cyclone and synoptic scale waves• Cloud properties and evaluation– Athena Project• Stretch-NICAM studies, and sisters

Background• 熱帯の気象予測の重要性: Importance of tropical clouds–台風の発生、積雲クラスター、巨大雲集団（マッデン・ジュリアン振動）–日本の月から季節先の数値予報の改善–地球温暖化に伴う豪雨・台風等極端現象•

従来の気象・気候モデルの問題 Issues of current GCMs
– 分解能 数10km ⇒ 積雲対流が解像できない•

全球雲解像モデル Global cloud-resolving model– 分解能 km-scaleで全球を覆う超高分解能の気象・気候予測計算に適した大気大循環モデルの開発– 非静力学正20面体大気モデル
Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM)NICAM: Nonhydrostatic Icosahedal Atmospheric Model• Development since 2000
Tomita and Satoh(2005, Fluid Dyn. Res.), Satoh et al.(2008, J. Comp. Phys.)• First global dx=3.5km run in 2004 using the Earth Simulator(JAMSTEC)
Tomita et al.(2005, Geophys. Res. Lett.), Miura et al.(2007, Science)• Toward higher resolution global simulation
dx=1.7km, 880m, 440m using K-computer (10PF; Kobe,Riken,2012)• International collaborations– Athena project (2009-10): COLA, NICS, ECMWF, JAMSTEC, Univ. of Tokyo– G8 ICOMEX (2011-): Germany, UK, France, US, Japan

Earth Simulator

京Nonhydrostatic Icosahedarl Atmospheric Model• Icosahedral grid with spring dynamics smoothing
Tomita et al.(2001, J. Comp. Phys.)
Tomita et al.(2002, J. Comp. Phys.)• Flux-form conservative nonhydrostatic scheme– Split-explicit time integration– mass and total energy & momentum conserving
Satoh (2002, Mon. Wea. Rev.)
Satoh (2003, Mon. Wea. Rev.)

Area distribution of cell: before and afterNonhydrostatic scheme

  W

3
R  h  Vh 

G

V
h
 1/ 2  0t  GVh  h P 
G 3 P  ADVh  FCoriolist  P W
 1/ 2   Rg  ADVz  Fz ,Coriolist  G 






 
 W

3
h  k    1 / 2  G  Vh   0
Etotal  h  h  k   Vh  

t
 
G

Prognostic variables• density
1/ 2
R

G

• horizontal momentum• vertical momentum
Vh  G1/ 2  vh
• total energy
1/ 2

W G w

Etotal   G1/ 2 ein  k   

Metrics

 z 
G1/ 2      x , y
G 3  h zH ( z  zs )H  zsSatoh (2002, 2003) Dynamics

Model description

Governing equations

Fully compressible non-hydrostatic system

Spatial discretization
Horizontal grid configuration
Vertical grid configuration
Topography

Finite Volume Method (Tomita et al. 2001,2002)
Icosahedral grid
Lorenz grid
Terrain-following coordinate

Conservation

Total mass, total energy (Satoh 2002,2003)

Temporal scheme

Slow mode － explicit scheme （RK2, RK3）
Fast mode － Horizontal Explicit Vertical Implicit scheme

Advection scheme

Conservative and monotonic
Miura (2004), Niwa et al.(2011)

 Physics
Turbulence, surface flux

MYNN(Nakanishi and Niino 2004; Mellor & Yamada
2,2.5,3)/Louis(1979), Uno et al.(1995), Moon et al. (2007)

Radiation

MSTRNX (Sekiguchi and Nakajima, 2005)

Cloud physics

Kessler; Grabowski(1998); Lin et al.(1983); NSW6(Tomita2008);NDW6(Seiki et al. 2011);WSM3-6 (Hong et al. 2004)

Subgrid convection

Prognostic AS, Kuo,
Chikira (Chikira and Sugiyama 2010), Tiedtke (1989)

Land and sea processes

Mixed layer/bucket; MATSIRO (Takata et al. 2003)

Main outcomes of the 5-years researches• APE: 1st result from GCRM
– Tomita et al.(2005, Geophys.Res.Lett.), GRL highlight• Realistic simulations of a Madden-Julian Oscillation– Miura et al. (2007,Science)• Success of the tropical cyclogenesis simulation with two-weeks
leadtime– Fudeyasu et al.(2008,Geophys.Res.Lett.), GRL highlight, Bull. American
Meteorol. Society, Nowcast• Success of the Myanmar cyclone simulation– Taniguchi et al.(2010,J.Meteor.Soc.Japan), Yanase et al. (2010,J. Meteor.
Soc. Japan), JMSJ special edition• Future projections of tropical cyclone changes– Yamada et al. (2010,Geophys.Res.Lett.), Nature highlight

NICAM APE simulations
precipitation along equator (2S-2N)
dx=7kmdx=3.5km

87d

86d

85d

84d

Tomita et al. (2005), Satoh et al.(2005)

40E

60E

80E

MJO simulation, Dec.2006-Jan.2007 (Miura et al., 2007)
MTSAT-1R IR image
2006年12月31日

3.5km mesh NICAM simulation
2006年12月31日（計算開始から6日後）

論文 図1
報道発表資料 図1

A Madden-Julian Oscillation event realistically simulated by a global cloud-resolving model• eastward propagation of large-scale organized convective system•Multiscale structure of MJO (Nasuno et al. 2009 JMSJ)
11

Hovmöller diagrams: IR/OLR (Equator)

IR (NCEP/CPC)

10-15 m/s

NICAM 7-km

10-15 m/s

～5m/s
～5m/s

Nasuno et al.(2009,JMSJ)Tropical cyclogenesis associated with MJO
MTSAT Infrared ImageNICAM

Dr. Fudeyasu

2007/1/2(18th day of the integration)

2007/1/2

MJO

Tropical cyclone
IsobelWesterly Wind Burst

MJO

Tropical cyclone

TC Nargis ensemble simulations
Taniguchi et al. (2010,JMSJ)NICAM simulations
Horizontal mesh size: 14 km
Vertical mesh size: 0 m ~ 38,000 m（40 layer, stretching grid ）Integration: 30-days
Initial condition:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2008/h2008_nargis.html）
linear interpolation from JMA GPV/GSM data (every 6hr, 0.5x0.5grid)
initial time: 1200UTC, 10, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, Apr 2008
(7 runs without any perturbations:
Lagged Average Forecasting (LAF) method, Hoffman and Kalnay, 1993)
without any nudging process (Nargis formed on 27 Apr 2008)
Boundary condition:
weekly Reynolds-SST , Sea ICE
ETOPO-5 topography, Matthews vegetation
UGAMP ozone climatology (AMIP2)

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan
Special Edition on the Myanmar Cyclone, Vol. 88, No. 3, 2010
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jmsj/88/3/_contents

Taniguchi et al. (2010), J. Meteor. Soc. Japan

Incipient disturbances for cyclone Nargis: U10m & OLR (IR)Obs.

NICAM : 4/23
• WWB

• Cyclonic eddy in SIO• Wind from the South
China Sea
• A weak cyclonic
circulation• Northward migration of
WWB• Cyclonic eddy in NIO• Wind from the South
China Sea

Taniguchi et al. (2010), J. Meteor. Soc. Japan

Incipient disturbances for cyclone Nargis
Obs.

NICAM : 4/23

• Northward migration of
Cyclonic eddy in NIO• Wind from the South
China Sea

• Northward migration of
Cyclonic eddy in NIO• northward movementof northern vortex andits cyclonic circulation
development

Taniguchi et al. (2010), J. Meteor. Soc. Japan

U850 (Averaged: 80E-100E)
Obs.

Init. Apr 23

Init. Apr 24

Init. Apr 25

Init. Apr 26

Init. Apr 27• Cyclone Nargis formed during the northward propagation of lowlevel zonal wind in the Bay of Bengal.

• Simulated cyclones also formed during the northward propagation

Loc. of TC genesis (Obs.)

Loc. of TC genesis (Sim.)Western-North-Pacific Monsoon Index (WNPMI)

Taniguchi et al. (2010), J. Meteor. Soc. Japan

MJO phase: (a) observed, (b-h) simulated
Obs.

1

2

4/24

6

3

4/10

Apr.27

4/23

Apr.27

5

CHI200 composite
on each MJO phase

Ph1

4

Apr.27

TC genesis

Ph2
4/25

Apr.27

4/26

Apr.27

Ph3

Ph4
Ph5
Ph6
Ph7

4/27

EOF2

Apr.27

4/28

Apr.27

Ph8• TC genesis occurs when active convective region associatedwith the MJO resides over the maritime continent region.

EOF1• No TC genesis occurs for the member of which phasepropagation of the MJO is not reproduced.

Nargis ensemble exp. Cyclone Tracks (global view)
Halong (TY05)

Nargisinit: 4/10

5/23-5/20

4/28-5/3

Matmo (TY04)
5/13-5/16

Rammasun (TY03)
5/6-5/13

Rosie

4/21-4/24

Durga

4/22-4/24

Neoguri (TY02)
4/12-4/19

No TCsin Eastern Pacific & Atlantic

init: 4/23

init: 4/24

init: 4/25

init: 4/26

init: 4/27

init: 4/28

Global cloud-system resolving simulation of
typhoon Fengshen (2008): comparison with
ECMWF YOTC operational analysis data
Tomoe Nasuno, Hiroyuki Yamada, Wataru Yanase,
Akira T. Noda, and Masaki Satoh
Email: nasuno@jamstec.go.jp

Genesis of Typhoon Fengshen (2008) from an
uptilted synoptic-scale disturbance:
PALAU field experiment and global cloudresolving simulation
Hiroyuki Yamada, Tomoe Nasuno, Wataru Yanase,
Ryuichi Shirooka, and Masaki Satoh
Email: yamada@jamstec.go.jp(2012, to be submitted)

NICAM 3.5 km mesh2008/06/20 12UTC

TC FengshenGlobal cloud-resolving simulation of YOTC period #1
NOAA

OLR (7.5N-7.5S)

NICAM 14 km

MJO
Fengshen

NICAM 3.5 km

PALAU

Horizontal grid spacing: 14 km, 3.5 km

Vertical domain: 0 m ~ 38,000 m (40-levels)
Integration: 10 days from 00UTC 15 Jun 2008
Initial conditions: ECMWF YOTC Operational data
NCEP final analysis (land surface, SST)
Boundary conditions: slab ocean(nudging to Reynolds weekly SST)
 Fengshen formed on 17 Jun 2008

（PALAU2008 Field campaign）

Genesis process of Typhoon Fengshen
ECMWF

06/17/2008 00UTC
IR, radarcenter

3.5km NICAM

VOR 850hPa

a

MRG1

centerTD0
MRG2

Initial vortex of typhoon Fengshen
Cloud distribution is asymmetric
3.5km NICAM 6/17 00UTC

南
北風

condensate centerb

V850hPaTD1

6/19 00UTC

TD2

c

d

centerDeepening of axisymmetric structure
Is realistically simulated

NICAM

Genesis process of Typhoon Fengshen: mesoscale analysis
observation (IR, radar)
Doppler radarTC
genesismergingTime series of Wind profile

heightMiddle- level vortex

Low-level vortex

Impact of resolution on TC track
Vertical velocity

Fengshen track
3.5 km NICAM
Standard mixing
14km NICAM（blue・green・yellow）
Standard mixing

IBTrACs

NICAM

GPV

14km NICAM Strong mixing

NICAM

GPV
Fengshen track is better simulated
by 3.5 km NICAM than 14 km NICAM
and JMA-GMS

Tendencies of vorticity

Validation of cloud microphysical statistics simulated
by a global cloud-resolving model with active
satellite measurements
Tempei Hashino1, Masaki Satoh1, Yuichiro Hagihara2,
Takuji Kubota3, Toshihisa Matsui4, Tomoe Nasuno5, andHajime Okamoto2
Email: hashino@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp(2011, to be submitted)
1Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo
2 Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University

3Japan Agency for Marine-earth Science and Technology
4NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
5Japan Agency for Marine-earth Science and Technology

J-simulator (Joint Simulator for Satellite Sensors)
by T. Hashino and the EarthCARE team- Simulate EarthCARE (2014) observations from CRM outputs.
- Built on Satellite Data Simulator Unit (SDSU)
Masunaga et al. (2010, BAMS)- Extension at NASA/Goddard: Goddard-SDSU
courtesy of T. Matsui & NASA GPM team
VIS 0.62 m

94 GHz CPR [dBZ]
at h=10 km

IR 10.8 m TB [K]532 nm backscat coef
Log10[1/m/str] at h=14 km

IR 10.8 m TB [K]Observation

MTSAT (MRI, Japan; Chiba Univeristy,
CEReS)+ globally-merged IR (CPC,NOAA)

Pol diff for 19GHz

Cross section through the TC at longitude 127E

http://www22.atwiki.jp/j-simulator/

Examples of simulated signals

Example 1: Tropical Cyclone

OBS:•Bright band exists.
• High   above convective cores.
• Overlap regions of C1 and C2 mask exist.

CALIPSO 532 nm

CloudSAT 94 GHz

NICAM

Obs.

MTSAT IR Tb (10.8 m)

NICAM:•Bright band exists.
• Low cloud top for C1, but high for C2.
• Few overlap regions of C1 and C2 mask exist.

Latitudinal distribution of cloud occurrences

Lidar

Radar

Observation

Simulation

Sim-Obs

The Athena Project
COLA, ECMWF, JAMSTEC, University of Tokyo, NICS, Cray
7km
List of experiments NICAM
dt=30sec

IFS 10km
dt=450sec

http://wxmaps.org/athena/home/
Kinter et al.(2011,submitted)

The Intra-Seasonal Oscillation and its
control of tropical cyclones
simulated by high-resolution global
atmospheric models
M. Satoh, K. Oouchi, T. Nasuno, H. Taniguchi,
Y. Yamada, H. Tomita, C. Kodama, J. Kinter, D.
Achuthavarier, J. Manganello, B. Cash,
T. Jung, T. Palmer, N. Wedi
(2011, Clim Dyn.)Northward propagation of ISV in the Indian ocean

Time-latitude sections of anomalous 60-90E average surface precipitation(color) and zonal wind at 850 hPa (contour lines in the initial 52 days of NICAM (top)and IFS (middle) simulations in comparison with TRMM–3B42 and ERA–Interim data(bottom). The anomalies from the 8-year average (Fig. 2) are plotted. Contour intervals
for zonal wind are 2 m s-1(solid: positive, broken: negative). Zero contour lines are omitted.

MJO statistics
NICAM

IFS

JRA

• A distinct signal of the MJO can be seen at the zonal wavenumber 1 around the periodof 45-days in the results of NICAM (left) and the observation (right), while the strong
signal in IFS can be observed at the zonal wavenumber 1 around the period shorter thanthat of NICAM and the observation (center).
• Moreover, a strong signal of the equatorial Kelvin waves can be detected around theperiod of less than 15-days in the substantial range of zonal wavenumber greater than 1
in NICAM and the observation, while in IFS, the signal is relatively weak.

Most intensive Tropical cyclone structure
Distributions of 10m tangential
wind (left panels; m s^-1) andtotal column liquid water and ice(TCLWI; right panels; kg m^-2)
for the most intense TCs at thepeak of their intensity from the
NICAM simulation (panels a andd, labeled “NICAM”), the IFS 10-‐km simulation (panels b and e,labeled “T2047”), the IFS 39km
simulation (panels c and f,labeled “T159”), respectively.
Radius is 2°Contour interval is
3 m s^1 for wind Dashed black
contours in panels d, e and fshow the radius of maximum
winds for each case with respect
to the center of the storm
determined from the location of
maximum vorticity at 925 hPa(1000 hPa for the IFS cases).

Kinter et al.(2011)

Precipitation bias

Mean JJA precipitation fromGPCP (lower right; mm/d),and the errors relative to
GPCP for the various global
model integrations
Dirmeyer et al.
(2011,Clim Dyn)

Future projection of TC
Fewer, taller, fiercer

No tuning of thresholddetection
17.5 m/s
Good tracks in WP

Yamada et al. (2010, GRL)

Number of Tropical cyclone
JJASO

OBS

OBS：
Unisys.
Best Track

CTL

GW

western easternbasin
Indian Pacific Pacific Atlantic
range 30E-100E 100E-180 180-90W 90W-0
OBS
5
20
12
14
CTL
10
20
7
13
GW
3
21
7
1

Globe
----5150
32

Possible change of the intensity
JJASO max surface wind

min surface pressure

The most intense TC: 871 hPa

Under the global warming climate condition,
intense tropical cyclone increases.

Relationship between
tropical cyclone intensity and the cloud top height

Under GW, the relationship between intensity and cloud top
height is stronger

Future change of location of Tropical Cyclogensis
simulated by NICAM and downscaling model
NICAM:blue
Downscale model(CHIPS): red

Present

FutureMore chance of tropical cyclones
in mid-latitudes & Mediterranean

Emanuel et al. (2010,JAMES)

Sisters of NICAM: stretch-NICAM
Tomita (2008 JMSJ)Use of the stretched grid system

Satoh et al. (2008, J. Geophys.Res.)Aug-Sep 2011, TC1112 TALAS
stretch-NICAM simulation: Δxmin=6km

Initial: 2011/08/29 00UTC; OLR

Sueki et. al.

Radiative Convective Experiments:
Small planet with everywhere tropics

Diurnal cycle of hydrometeors

Satoh and Matsuda (2009,JAS)“Statistics on high-cloud areas and their
sensitivities to cloud microphysics using
single-cloud experiments”

Regional NICAM

wt_ndg_halo1

wt_ngd_min
wt_ngd_max

By M. Hara

wt_ndg_lon_c,
wt_ndg_halo2wt_ndg_lat_cPlane-NICAM: double periodic
model for LES

By T. Ohno

Summary• Good points of global nonhydrostatic models– Multiscale structure of cloud system– MJO, tropical cyclones– Cloud properties with cloud microphysics• Issues– Precipitation biases: stronger rain, locations– Subgrid convection & cloud microphysics: grey zone
• Physics and couplers– Physics libraries, interfaces and couplers– Use of satellite observations for evaluations• Unified approach to global and regional models

K-computer strategic program for Innovative Research:
Projection of Planet Earth Variations for Mitigating Natural :Field 3• Future change in Tropical cyclones– 7km, 10 years• Extended forecast for a few weeks to a month• Further high-resolution : less than 1km(glevel-13 or more)• More complex physics: cloud microphysics,
radiation, turbulenceJournal of the
Meteorological Societyof Japan (JMSJ)JMSJ is an international English journal of
the Meteorological Society of Japan. JMSJ
publishes original research articles relating
to meteorology. The articles are selected
carefully by a thorough paper review
based on the latest scientific knowledge.
JMSJ Editorial Committee:
Chief Editor: Satoh, Masaki;
Co-Chief Editors: Sato, Kaoru; Takemi, Tetsuya
Editors: Fujiwara, Masatomo; Inatsu, Masaru; Ishioka,
Keiichi; Honda, Meiji; Horinouchi, Takeshi; Kato,
Teruyuki; Kawashima, Masayuki; Kuji, Makoto; Kodama,Yasu-Masa; Masunaga, Hirohiko; Miyoshi, Takemasa;
Nozawa, Toru; Shibata, Kiyotaka; Shige, Shoichi; Sudo,
Kengo; Sugata, Seiji; Takegawa, Nobuyuki; Tanimoto,
Youichi; Yukimoto, Seiji; Ueno, Kenichi; Wang, Yuqing;
Watanabe, Masahiro

The Meteorological Society of Japan was
founded in 1882, for the wide informationexchange of research, translation,
introduction, and research plans relating
to meteorology. The Society issued Series Iof the Journal between 1882 and 1922.
Since 1923 the society has been publishing
Series II of the Journal.

JMSJ, Since 1882

visit http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jmsj
to submit papers and browse archives (free access!)