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Winner! 2009 Student HPC Competition Title: Using High-Performance Computing at FSU for Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Models By: Henry R. Winterbottom

Abstract

The interactions between the fluids comprising the Earth-system, namely the atmosphere and the ocean, are responsible for a range of weather phenomena spanning the hourly changes in local-weather to longer-term climate modulations. Fig. 1 is an illustration of the various interactions within the Earth-system. Respectively, atmospheric scientists and oceanographers alike have developed numerical weather prediction (NWP) models for the purposes of both comprehension and prediction for the atmosphere and ocean. Recently, there has been an increasing demand to couple the atmosphere and ocean models in order to further understand the Earth-system and the atmosphere-ocean interactions. Some popular examples of atmosphere-ocean interactions include the water cycle (evaporation and rainfall), wind and ocean-wave interactions (ocean foam and sea-spray), and heat and momentum exchanges between the atmosphere and ocean – which often lead to anomalous coastal weather phenomena.