This barotropic model written in Python was originally written by Luke Madaus and restructured by Nick Weber. My contributions to this model have enabled me to demonstrate simple atmospheric dynamics concepts such as Rossby wave dispersion, vorticity dynamics, and interactions of flow with terrain. This simple model allows for exploration of these concepts through namelist fields that can modify the simulation. For example, terrain from Earth and Mars can be included in the program to understand how flow is impacted by changes in terrain. An isolated mountain can also be considered and artifical vorticies can be included in the flow to simulate tropical cyclones. This model, along with concepts about barotropic flow, enables me to teach students about how simple models can explain a variety of synoptic-dynamic phenomena, and motivates an understanding of more complex atmospheric dynamics (e.g., baroclinic atmospheres) that build upon a simple model.
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