LFRic scalars

An LFRic scalar is a data structure that holds a scalar value but is aware of the distributed memory domain decomposition.

Unlike fields, the value of a scalar is public.

To set the value of a scalar field:

type(scalar_type)       :: my_value

my_scalar%value = my_value

Assuming a kernel is called to calculate the value of a scalar, the resulting value will apply to the local domain. The LFRic scalar has methods to compute sums, and to obtain the minimum or maximum value of the scalar across all the domains of the model.

sum = my_scalar%get_sum()
min_value = my_scalar%get_min()
max_value = my_scalar%get_max()

Scalars are supported for 32-bit and 64-bit real values and for 32-bit integer values. As with fields, an application can support configurable precision by defining a scalar_type whose setting depends on compile defs:

#if (RDEF_PRECISION == 32)
   use scalar_real32_mod, only: scalar_type       => scalar_real32_type
#else
   use scalar_real64_mod, only: scalar_type       => scalar_real64_type
#endif