Overthepastfewdecades,mathematicalmodelshavebecomeanincreasinglyimportanttoolforEarthscientiststounderstandandmakepredictionsabouthowourplanetfunctionsandevolvesthroughtimeandspace.Thesemodelsoftenconsistofpartialdifferentialequations(PDEs)thatarediscretizedwithanumericalmethodandsolvedonacomputer.Themostcommonlyuseddiscretizationmethodsarethefinitedifferencemethod(FDM),thefinitevolumemethod,thefiniteelementmethod(FEM),thediscreteelementmethod,theboundaryelementmethod,andvariousspectralmethods.
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