| [987] | 1 | \chapter{Introduction} |
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| 2 | |
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| 3 | \selectlanguage{english} |
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| 4 | This document is a user manual for the Generic Climate Model |
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| 5 | developed by the Laboratoire de M\'et\'eorologie |
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| 6 | Dynamique of the CNRS in Paris. |
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| 7 | It corresponds to the version of the model available since January 2011, |
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| 8 | that includes the new dynamic code lmdz3.3 |
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| 9 | and input and output data in NetCDF format. |
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| 10 | The physical part includes generalized correlated-k radiative transfer, |
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| 11 | generalized tracer transport, and a water cycle that includes water vapour and ice transport, |
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| 12 | radiative and thermodynamic effects, and simple hydrology. |
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| 13 | |
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| 14 | Chapter~\ref{sc:apercu} of this document, to be read before any of the others, |
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| 15 | describes the main features of the model. |
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| 16 | The model is divided into two relatively independent parts: |
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| 17 | (1) The hydrodynamic code, which integrates the fluid mechanical \emph{primitive equations} in time |
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| 18 | over the globe, and (2) the physical parameterizations, which include the radiative transfer, tracer transport / evolution, |
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| 19 | and surface-atmosphere interaction. It is followed by a list of references for anyone requiring a detailed |
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| 20 | description of the physics and the numerical formulation of the parameterizations (Chapter~\ref{sc:phystd}). |
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| 21 | |
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| 22 | For your {\bf first contact with the model}, Chapter~\ref{loc:contact1} guides the user through a practice simulation |
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| 23 | (choosing the initial states and parameters and visualizing the output files). The document then describes the code used for the model, including a user computer manual for compiling and running it (Chapter~\ref{sc:info}). |
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| 24 | |
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| 25 | Chapter~\ref{sc:io} describes the input/output data of the model. The input files are the files needed to initialize the model (state of the atmosphere at instant $t0$ as well as a dataset of boundary conditions). The output files are ``historical files", archives of the atmospheric flow history as simulated by the model, the ``diagfi files", the ``stats files'', the daily averages, and so on. Common ways of editing or visualizing these files (editor ``ncdump" and the graphics software ``grads") are also explained. Chapter~\ref{sc:water} explains how to run a simulation that includes the water cycle. Finally, Chapter~\ref{sc:rcm1d} will help you to use a 1-dimensional version of the model, which may be a simpler tool for some analysis work. |
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