Accelerating Simulations of Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement.
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| Title: | Accelerating Simulations of Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement. |
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| Authors: | Tissaoui, Yassine1 (AUTHOR) tissaoui@wisc.edu, Guimond, Stephen R.2 (AUTHOR), Giraldo, Francis X.3 (AUTHOR), Marras, Simone4 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. Dec2025, Vol. 82 Issue 12, p2711-2736. 26p. |
| Subjects: | Tropical cyclones, Spectral element method, Computer simulation, Numerical analysis, Computational fluid dynamics, Mathematical optimization, Simulation methods & models |
| Abstract: | Tropical cyclones (TCs) are powerful, natural phenomena that can severely impact populations and infrastructure. Enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms driving their intensification is crucial for mitigating these impacts. To this end, researchers are pushing the boundaries of TC simulation resolution down to scales of just a few meters. However, high-resolution simulations come with significant computational challenges, increasing both time and energy costs. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is a technique widely used in computational fluid dynamics but has seen limited application in atmospheric simulations. This study explores the use of h-adaptive spectral elements to accelerate simulations of TC rapid intensification while allowing very high resolutions in certain parts of the domain. By applying AMR to a rapidly intensifying TC test case, we demonstrate that AMR can replicate the results of uniform grid simulations in terms of mean and local wind speed maxima while dramatically reducing computational costs. We show that AMR can speed up dry simulations of rapidly intensifying TCs forced by heating observations by a factor of 2–13 for the set of tested refinement criteria. Additionally, we show that TC intensity changes as resolution is increased and that AMR can deliver high-resolution simulations at the cost of coarser static simulations. Our findings indicate that AMR and spectral element methods are promising tools for enhancing TC simulations. Significance Statement: Each year, tropical cyclones are among the most deadly and costliest of all natural disasters. These storms intensify through the consolidation of the energy released inside thunderstorms, which contain a hierarchy of small spatial scales. To simulate the intensification process accurately with mathematical models, it is necessary to account for all these small spatial scales, which can be difficult even on modern computing systems. In this work, we present a numerical algorithm called adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) that can alleviate some of this computational burden while still capturing the essence of the thunderstorms. The AMR algorithm shown here produces faster simulations by up to a factor of 10, which will significantly enhance the ability to capture tropical cyclone (TC) intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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| Abstract: | Tropical cyclones (TCs) are powerful, natural phenomena that can severely impact populations and infrastructure. Enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms driving their intensification is crucial for mitigating these impacts. To this end, researchers are pushing the boundaries of TC simulation resolution down to scales of just a few meters. However, high-resolution simulations come with significant computational challenges, increasing both time and energy costs. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is a technique widely used in computational fluid dynamics but has seen limited application in atmospheric simulations. This study explores the use of h-adaptive spectral elements to accelerate simulations of TC rapid intensification while allowing very high resolutions in certain parts of the domain. By applying AMR to a rapidly intensifying TC test case, we demonstrate that AMR can replicate the results of uniform grid simulations in terms of mean and local wind speed maxima while dramatically reducing computational costs. We show that AMR can speed up dry simulations of rapidly intensifying TCs forced by heating observations by a factor of 2–13 for the set of tested refinement criteria. Additionally, we show that TC intensity changes as resolution is increased and that AMR can deliver high-resolution simulations at the cost of coarser static simulations. Our findings indicate that AMR and spectral element methods are promising tools for enhancing TC simulations. Significance Statement: Each year, tropical cyclones are among the most deadly and costliest of all natural disasters. These storms intensify through the consolidation of the energy released inside thunderstorms, which contain a hierarchy of small spatial scales. To simulate the intensification process accurately with mathematical models, it is necessary to account for all these small spatial scales, which can be difficult even on modern computing systems. In this work, we present a numerical algorithm called adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) that can alleviate some of this computational burden while still capturing the essence of the thunderstorms. The AMR algorithm shown here produces faster simulations by up to a factor of 10, which will significantly enhance the ability to capture tropical cyclone (TC) intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00224928 |
| DOI: | 10.1175/JAS-D-24-0242.1 |
