76 CHAPTER 4.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Implementation
Coordinate systems are selected in the model with the switch iopt grid sph:

0 : Cartesian
1 : spherical

4.1.2 Coordinate transforms in the horizontal

The program allows to define horizontal grids in a more flexible way through
the introduction of curvilinear coordinates. Consider firstly the following
general horizontal coordinate transform

ξ1 = f1 (x, y) , ξ2 = f2 (x, y) (4.3)

The inverse transform becomes

x = F1 (ξ1 , ξ2 ) , y = F2 (ξ1 , ξ2 ) (4.4)

The distance between two neighbouring (grid) points is given by

∆d2 = ∆x2 + ∆y 2
" 2  2 # " 2  2 #
∂F1 ∂F2 2 ∂F1 ∂F2
= + ∆ξ1 + + ∆ξ22
∂ξ1 ∂ξ1 ∂ξ2 ∂ξ2
 
∂F1 ∂F1 ∂F2 ∂F2
+ 2 + ∆ξ1 ∆ξ2 (4.5)
∂ξ1 ∂ξ2 ∂ξ1 ∂ξ2

If
∂F1 ∂F1 ∂F2 ∂F2
+ =0 (4.6)
∂ξ1 ∂ξ2 ∂ξ1 ∂ξ2
then
∆d2 = h21 ∆ξ12 + h22 ∆ξ22 (4.7)
and (ξ1 , ξ2 ) are then called orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. This means
geometrically that the coordinate curve along which ξ1 is a constant, inter-
sects the curve along which ξ2 is constant orthogonally.
Note that spherical coordinates can be considered as “pseudo”-curvilinear
coordinates with respect to Cartesian coordinates with h1 = R cos φ and
h2 = R where R is the mean radius of the Earth, defined as the radius of a
sphere having the same volume as the Earth or 6371 km (see Appendix 2 of
Gill, 1982)