Gaussian grid
A Gaussian grid is used in the earth sciences as a gridded horizontal coordinate system for scientific modeling on a sphere. The grid is rectangular, with a set number of orthogonal coordinates.
At a given latitude, the gridpoints are equally spaced. On the contrary along a longitude the gridpoints are unequally spaced. The spacing between grid points is defined by Gaussian quadrature. By contrast, in the "normal" geographic latitude-longitude grid, gridpoints are equally spaced along both latitudes and longitudes. Gaussian grids also have no grid points at the poles.
In a regular Gaussian grid, the number of gridpoints along the longitudes is constant, usually double the number along the latitudes. In a reduced Gaussian grid, the number of gridpoints in the rows decreases towards the poles, which keeps the gridpoint separation approximately constant across the sphere.
Examples of Gaussian grids
- CCCma global climate models of climate change
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- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
- * 192×96
- * 320×160
- * 512×256
- * 640×320
- * 800×400
- * 1024×512
- * 1600×800
- * 2048×1024
- * 2560×1280