The code presented here is the result of a continuing effort to
develop a 3D primitive equation ocean model based on the DieCAST code
(DieCAST was developed by Dr. David E. Dietrich at the Center for Air Sea
Technology). This effort was originally based on the C-grid
formulation of DieCAST, but this was abandoned due to problems that
affected the propagation of baroclinic topographic Rossby waves. (It
was found that a baroclinic Rossby wave in a periodic channel with a
uniformly sloping bottom was very poorly represented in the C-grid
code.) Several discussions with Dr. Dietrich lead to the decision to
try an A-grid version of the model code which was under development
by Dr. Dietrich. Since substantial effort had already been invested
in modifications of the C-grid code, it was decided to continue with
this code and modify it to take the A-grid approach. Dr. Dietrich
kindly provided us with an A-grid version of the code upon which we
based our changes. Thus, while our code may not appear familiar to
those who have worked with either of Dr. Dietrich's C-grid or A-grid
versions of DieCAST, it is fundamentally based on
his A-grid model. We deeply appreciate Dr. Dietrich's
willingness to share his code and his ideas with the wider community.
The main purpose of the present document is to make the code developed over the past few years more readily available to students and colleagues. However, the combination of a limited budget and a continually evolving program make it very difficult to supply a complete, well-documented set of routines. We have attempted to eliminate programming errors, but some are bound to have been missed. If you discover any, either in the manual or in the code, please inform Dr. Dan Wright (dwright@emerald.bio.dfo.ca).
The development of this model code was initiated in 1996 with financial support from the Canadian Institute for Climate Studies. We gratefully acknowledge both their funding and their patience.
