A high-order finite volume remapping scheme for nonuniform grids: The piecewise quartic method (PQM)

Abstract

A hierarchy of one-dimensional high-order remapping schemes is presented and their performance with respect to accuracy and convergence rate investigated. The schemes are also compared based on remapping experiments in closed domains. The piecewise quartic method (PQM) is presented, based on fifth-order accurate piecewise polynomials, and is motivated by the need to significantly improve hybrid coordinate systems of ocean climate models, which require the remapping to be conservative, monotonic and highly accurate. A limiter for this scheme is fully described that never decreases the polynomial degree, except at the location of extrema. We assess the use of high-order explicit and implicit (i.e., compact) estimates for the edge values and slopes needed to build the piecewise polynomials in both piecewise parabolic method (PPM) and PQM. It is shown that all limited PQM schemes perform significantly better than limited PPM schemes and that PQM schemes are much more cost-effective.