RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System)

DESCRIPTION

As described in the Colorado State University Web site, RAMS, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System, is a highly versatile numerical code developed by scientists at Colorado State University for simulating and forecasting meteorological phenomena, and for depicting the results. Its major components are:

  1. An atmospheric model which performs the actual simulations
  2. A data analysis package which prepares initial data for the atmospheric model from observed meteorological data
  3. A post-processing model visualization and analysis package which interfaces atmospheric model output with a variety of visualization software utilities.

The atmospheric model is constructed around the full set of primitive dynamical equations which govern atmospheric motions, and supplements these equations with optional parameterizations for turbulent diffusion, solar and terrestrial radiation, moist processes including the formation and interaction of clouds and precipitating liquid and ice hydrometeors, sensible and latent heat exchange between the atmosphere, multiple soil layers, a vegetation canopy, surface water, the kinematic effects of terrain, and cumulus convection.

RAMS is fundamentally a limited-area model, but may be configured to cover an area as large as a planetary hemisphere for simulating mesoscale and large scale atmospheric systems. There is no lower limit to the domain size or to the mesh cell size of the model's finite difference grid: microscale phenomena such as tornadoes and boundary layer eddies, as well as sub-microscale turbulent flow over buildings and in a wind tunnel, have been simulated with this code. Two-way interactive grid nesting in RAMS allows local fine mesh grids to resolve compact atmospheric systems such as thunderstorms, while simultaneously modeling the large scale environment of the systems on a coarser grid.

RAMS is most strongly supported for execution under the UNIX operating system, but is also supported to some degree on computers for employing COS, VMS, or CTSS. The code is written almost exclusively in FORTRAN 77 with some common extensions, although some C code is used to facilitate I/O procedures and dynamic memory allocation. In order to utilize the standard graphics capability of RAMS, the computer installation should have the GKS Version 3.0 of NCAR Graphics.

A detailed description of RAMS is also provided at this site.

SCALE AND AREAS OF APPLICATION

 

SURVEY COMMENTS

No survey respondents repported using RAMS.

BENEFITS (PROS)

 

COSTS (CONS)

 

RECOMMENDATIONS