Abstract
A barotropic primitive equation model using the finite-element method of space discretization is presented. The semi-implicit method of time discretization is implemented by taking a suitable form of the governing equations. Finite-element forecasts are then compared with those from both finite-difference and spectral models. From the point of view of both efficiency and accuracy it is concluded that the finite-element method of space discretization appears to he viable for the practical problem of numerical weather prediction.
