Smooth, seamless, and structured grid generation with flexibility in resolution distribution on a sphere based on conformal mapping and the spring dynamics method

A generation method for smooth, seamless, and structured triangular grids on a sphere with flexibility in resolution distribution is proposed. This method is applicable to many fields that deal with a sphere on which the required resolution is not uniform. The grids were generated using the spring dynamics method, and adjustments were made using analytical functions. The mesh topology determined its resolution distribution, derived from a combination of conformal mapping factors: polar stereographic projection (PSP), Lambert conformal conic projection (LCCP), and Mercator projection (MP). Their combination generated, for example, a tropically fine grid that had a nearly constant high-resolution belt around the equator, with a gradual decrease in resolution distribution outside of the belt. This grid can be applied to boundary-less simulations of tropical meteorology. The other example involves a regionally fine grid with a nearly constant high-resolution circular region and a gradually decreasing resolution distribution outside of the region. This is applicable to regional atmospheric simulations without grid nesting. The proposed grids are compatible with computer architecture because they possess a structured form. Each triangle of the proposed grids was highly regular, implying a high local isotropy in resolution. Finally, the proposed grids were examined by advection and shallow water simulations.