PALM Model System#
What is PALM?#
The PALM Model System is an advanced and state-of-the-art meteorological modeling system for atmospheric and oceanic boundary layer flows. It was developed as a turbulence-resolving large-eddy simulation (LES) model specifically designed to run on massively parallel computer architectures, but runs on PCs and notebooks as well. It can also be used for direct numerical simulation (DNS), or for simulating mean flows, where turbulence is completely parameterized (RANS). PALM has a modular structure with embedded models for bulk cloud microphysics, gas phase chemistry, aerosol processes, radiation, urban- and land-surfaces, vegetation, wind turbines etc.. It has a nesting feature for self-nesting and one-way nesting into meso-scale or weather forecast models. The code is freely available under the GNU General Public License, version 3.
What is PALM used for?#
PALM is mainly used for simulating processes and phenomina in turbulent boundary layers from micro- to meso-scale, for example
- turbulence structure under various thermal stratification, from cold air outbreaks to dust devils
- heat mitigation in urban canopies
- dispersion of pollutants, especially in urban areas
- wake effects of wind farms
- wind turbine site assessment
- ...
The combination of the various embedded modules also allows for novel studies of
- cloud physics processes where cloud droplets and rain drops are explicitly represented by Lagrangian particles
- interactions between the ocean mixed layer and the atmospheric boundary layer by coupled atmosphere-ocean simulations
- traffic emission control by coupling PALM with a traffic flow model
- ...
There is an active community that maintains and advances the code to be used for future environmental studies.