What is tform?¶
tform is a differentiable 3-D Mars climate framework. Its primary model combines Dinosaur's JAX spectral primitive-equation dynamics with explicit column physics and Mars boundary data. It produces spatial temperature, pressure, wind and frost fields and supports gradients through coupled trajectories.
What the GCM evolves¶
| State | Representation |
|---|---|
| Circulation | Spectral vorticity and divergence on a spherical grid |
| Atmospheric temperature | Vertical sigma-layer temperature variations |
| Surface pressure | Prognostic logarithmic pressure |
| Surface temperature | Non-advected column surface reservoir |
| CO₂ frost | Surface pressure-equivalent reservoir |
| Subsurface temperature | Optional multilayer regolith |
Radiation, sensible heat, momentum drag, PBL diffusion, dry convection and CO₂ phase change enter as explicit tendencies. The IMEX integrator retains Dinosaur's implicit gravity-wave solve. A complete-step correction restores the global CO₂ inventory and frost positivity in the energy-limited configuration.
Primary workflows¶
Begin with the GCM quickstart. Use tform mars maps for exported
maps or tform serve for browser exploration. For coupled fitting, follow
calibration. The
neural interfaces support replacement
radiation and bounded heating; temperature-only fitting
instead operates on frozen forecasts.
These entry points have different defaults. Match forcing, boundary data, precision, initial state, timestep and duration when comparing them. Resolution presets are computational settings, not accuracy certificates.
Scientific scope¶
The model uses dry physics, prescribed dust and simplified regolith/PBL closures. There is no water/cloud cycle, interactive dust lifting, photochemistry or validated composition-dependent high-pressure physics. Reference comparisons are diagnostic; they do not establish independent observational validation. See validation and limitations.
Deprecated global-mean workflows
The torch ODE model, tform mars run and its global-mean presets are deprecated.
Use GCM maps and coupled experiment workflows for new work. Existing intervention
campaigns still use the deprecated trajectory with independent GCM snapshots;
they are not continuous 3-D intervention integrations.