Optimization-Based Conservative Transport on the Cubed-Sphere Grid

Transport algorithms are highly important for dynamical modeling of the atmosphere, where it is critical that scalar tracer species are conserved and satisfy physical bounds. We present an optimization-based algorithm for the conservative transport of scalar quantities (i.e. mass) on the cubed sphere grid, which preserves local solution bounds without the use of flux limiters. The optimization variables are the net mass updates to the cell, the objective is to minimize the discrepancy between these variables and suitable high-order cell mass update (the “target”), and the constraints are derived from the local solution bounds and the conservation of the total mass. The resulting robust and efficient algorithm for conservative and local bound-preserving transport on the sphere further demonstrates the flexibility and scope of the recently developed optimization-based modeling approach [1, 2].