10-km mesh global atmospheric simulations

Following the development of an atmospheric general circulation model that runs very efficiently on the Earth Simulator, three meso-scale resolving global 10-km mesh simulations were performed. Three meso-scale phenomena were chosen as simulation and research targets: They were the typhoon genesis, wintertime cyclogenesis and Baiu-Meiyu frontal zone. A brief summary of these results is given in this paper. Generally speaking, the results are realistic, and the figures of precipitation fields from the simulations may look like synthesized pictures from artificial satellites. The results are very encouraging and suggest the usefulness of such ultra-high resolution global simulations for studies on, for example, interaction between large-scale circulation and meso-scale disturbances. Also rationales for this kind of simulations are discussed.