Scalable algorithms for fully implicit ocean models
PhD ceremony: Mr. J. Thies, 13.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen
Title: Scalable algorithms for fully implicit ocean models
Promotor(s): prof. A.E.P. Veldman
Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Climate research is one of the disciplines which rely most heavily on numerical simulations. Experiments are tedious because of the difficulty of scaling something as large as an ocean down to laboratory size. Observations are sporadic because research vessels are expensive and can only be at one location at a time. Satellites, on the other hand, are limited to observing the sea surface.
In this thesis we study innovative numerical techniques to make simulations of ocean flow easier. The focal point is the term ‘scalability’. We call an algorithm scalable if refining the computational grid leads to a linear increase of the required arithmetic operations. A computer program is called scalable if using more processors reduces the computing time accordingly.
The implicit approach that we propose is based on the solution of coupled systems of equations, whereas explicit models use simpler updates of the variables to get from one time step to the next. Our implicit approach can take unlimited time steps, which allows us to simulate much longer time intervals like ice ages -than explicit models can handle.
The ocean is a complex dynamical system which can be sensitive to small changes of parameters such as the temperature of the atmosphere. Traditional explicit models have to be restarted for each new scenario, whereas the implicit variant can step directly from one situation to the next, varying the parame¬ters slightly in every step (continuation). This leads to substantially increased efficiency if one wants to test many scenarios.
Last modified: | 13 March 2020 01.12 a.m. |
More news
-
05 September 2024
ERC Starting Grants for two UG researchers
Two UG researches, both working at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant: Jingxiu Xie and Gosia Wlodarczyk-Biegun. The European Research Council's (ERC) Starting Grants consist of €1.5 million each, for a...
-
23 July 2024
The chips of the future
Our computers use an unnecessarily large amount of energy, and we are reaching the limits of our current technology. That is why CogniGron is working on new materials that mimic the way the brain computes, and Professor Tamalika Banerjee will...
-
18 July 2024
Smart robots to make smaller chips
A robotic arm in a factory that repeatedly executes the same movement: that’s a thing of the past, states Ming Cao. Researchers of the University of Groningen are collaborating with high-tech companies to make production processes more autonomous.