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Meteorological Models - Architecture
MM5 is available on Unix workstations and PCs running Linux (compiled with the Fortran and C compilers from the Portand Group). This is fairly large, computationally expensive code, however, and for model runs that require increased grid resolutions, more sophisticated hardware (towards the supercomputing end) is required. Parallel versions (multiple CPU) of MM5 are available, and the code is offered by various groups in the public domain. For example,the Pacific Northwest Laboratories runs their version of MM5 ona 24-processor SUN Microsystems Ultra server. 36- and 12-km nested grid runs, performing a 60-hour forecast, require approximately 3 hours of wallclock time to complete, while a 4-km, 12-hour forecast requires approximately 5 hours of run time.
There are a wide variety of MM5 "real time" and/or archived results available on the web*. Some examples include:
- UCAR's MM5 Realtime pages
- Southeast Center for Mesoscale Environmental Prediction (SECMEP) at the North Carolina Supercomputing Center (NCSC)
- NOAA's MM5 server
- Penn State's MM5 server
(These sites were available as of early 2001, and may not be currently available)
| From any of these pages, you will see a wide variety of output options to the MM5 runs. The graphic at right (click to see full-sized) shows an animation from an archived MM5 run at Penn State, showing change in surface temperature over a 48-hour forecasting period.
Some of the types of displays available include the following:
- Height
- Temperature
- Relative Humidity
- Mixing Ratio
- Wind
- Vertical Velocity
- Height and Temperature
- Wind and Temperature
- Wind and Relative Humidity
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