82 CHAPTER 4.

PHYSICAL MODEL

y = yr + y 0 cos α + x0 sin α (4.18)

4.1.4 Coordinate transforms in the vertical

4.1.4.1 σ-coordinates
The σ-coordinate is defined by (Phillips, 1957)
z+h z+h
σ= = (4.19)
H h+ζ
where σ varies between 0 at the bottom and 1 at the surface2 . The reverse
formula is obviously
z = σH − h (4.20)
so that the grid spacing in the vertical becomes

∆z = H∆σ (4.21)

The spacings of vertical σ-points ∆σ are horizontally uniform, but can be

taken as either uniform or non-uniform in the vertical.

Advantages are:
• much simpler boundary conditions at the surface and bottom

• a better resolution of surface and bottom layers

However there are well-known disadvantages of using σ-coordinates:
• areas with steep bathymetric gradients are difficult to present

• large errors can be produced by discretisation of the baroclinic pressure

gradient
A non-uniform σ-grid can be obtained by means of a transformation of the
form
σ̂ = F (σ) or its inverse σ = G(σ̂) (4.22)
where F and G are increasing functions and σ̂ equals 0 at the bottom and
1 at the surface. Davies & Jones (1991) defined the following logarithmic
transformations  
1 σ̂ σ̂
σ= ln(1 + ) + (4.23)
α σ0 σ∗
2
Note that the definition is different from the traditional one σ = (z − ζ)/H with
−1 ≤ σ ≤ 0.