Skip to content

Welcome to MPTRAC!

Massive-Parallel Trajectory Calculations (MPTRAC) is a state-of-the-art Lagrangian particle dispersion model to analyze atmospheric transport processes in the free troposphere and stratosphere. Leveraging high-performance computing techniques, MPTRAC efficiently handles large-scale trajectory simulations, making it a powerful tool for both research and operational applications.

Lagrangian transport simulation of convective transport

Features

MPTRAC offers a wide range of features to support comprehensive atmospheric modeling and analysis:

  • Trajectory Calculations: Computes air parcel trajectories by solving the kinematic equation of motion using specified horizontal wind and vertical velocity fields from global reanalyses or forecasts.

  • Mesoscale Diffusion and Stochastic Perturbations: Models mesoscale diffusion and sub-grid scale wind fluctuations with the Langevin equation, incorporating stochastic perturbations to enhance simulation realism.

  • Advanced Process Modules: Simulates a range of atmospheric processes, including convection, sedimentation, exponential decay, gas and aqueous phase chemistry, as well as wet and dry deposition.

  • Meteorological Data Pre-processing: Provides tools to calculate boundary layer characteristics, convective available potential energy (CAPE), geopotential heights, potential vorticity, and tropopause data.

  • Comprehensive Output and Visualization: Supports multiple output formats such as particle, ensemble, gridded, sample, and station data. Includes direct visualization through the Gnuplot and ParaView interfaces.

  • High-Performance Parallelization: Leverages MPI-OpenMP-OpenACC hybrid parallelization for efficient execution on workstations, high-performance computing clusters, and GPU systems.

  • Open Source and Collaborative Development: Released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), promoting community involvement and open development.

Geophysical modules and main software components of MPTRAC

Get Involved

We encourage collaboration and welcome contributions from the research community. Feel free to reach out if you have questions, suggestions, or need support with MPTRAC.

Contact

Dr. Lars Hoffmann

Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

e-mail: l.hoffmann@fz-juelich.de