A three-dimensional monotone and conservative semi-Lagrangian scheme (SLICE-3D) for transport problems

The Semi-Lagrangian Inherently Conserving and Efficient (SLICE) scheme is extended to three-dimensional transport on the sphere (SLICE-3D). This paper presents details of the scheme for a longitudelatitude C-type staggering grid. The scheme is applied to a passive transport with an analytically defined wind field that can be considered as an idealized climate circulation. The performance of SLICE-3D is assessed against the widely used standard non-conservative Semi-Lagrangian (SL) scheme. The computational performance of the scheme for multiple species transport on parallel machines is also examined. Copyright (c) 2012 British Crown copyright, the Met Office. Published by JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.