scholarly journals Earth system models of intermediate complexity: closing the gap in the spectrum of climate system models

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 579-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claussen M. ◽  
Mysak L. ◽  
Weaver A. ◽  
Crucifix M. ◽  
Fichefet T. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate System ◽  
Earth System ◽  
System Models ◽  
Intermediate Complexity ◽  
Closing The Gap ◽  
Earth System Models ◽  
Climate System Models

scholarly journals ESD Reviews: Evidence of multiple inconsistencies between representations of terrestrial and marine ecosystems in Earth System Models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Félix Pellerin ◽  
Philipp Porada ◽  
Inga Hense
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Climate Feedbacks ◽  
Ecosystem Models ◽  
System Models ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Models ◽  
Earth System Models

Abstract. Terrestrial and marine ecosystems interact with other Earth system components through different biosphere-climate feedbacks that are very similar among ecosystem types. Despite these similarities, terrestrial and marine systems are often treated relatively separately in Earth System Models (ESM). In these ESM, the ecosystems are represented by a set of biological processes that are able to influence the climate system by affecting the chemical and physical properties of the environment. While most of the climate-relevant processes are shared between ecosystem types, model representations of terrestrial and marine ecosystems often differ. This raises the question whether inconsistencies between terrestrial and marine ecosystem models exist and potentially skew our perception of the relative influence of each ecosystem on climate. Here we compared the terrestrial and marine modules of 17 Earth System Models in order to identify inconsistencies between the two ecosystem types. We sorted out the biological processes included in ESM regarding their influence on climate into three types of biosphere-climate feedbacks (i.e. the biogeochemical pumps, the biogeophysical mechanisms and the gas and particle shuttles), and critically compare their representation in the different ecosystem modules. Overall, we found multiple evidences of unjustified differences in process representations between terrestrial and marine ecosystem models within ESM. These inconsistencies may lead to wrong predictions about the role of biosphere in the climate system. We believe that the present comparison can be used by the Earth system modeling community to increase consistency between ecosystem models. We further call for the development of a common framework allowing the uniform representation of climate-relevant processes in ecosystem modules of ESM.

scholarly journals Developing the next-generation climate system models: challenges and achievements

2008 ◽  
Vol 367 (1890) ◽  
pp. 815-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Slingo ◽  
Kevin Bates ◽  
Nikos Nikiforakis ◽  
Matthew Piggott ◽  
Malcolm Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Mesh Refinement ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Climate System ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
System Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Petascale Computing ◽  
Climate System Models

Although climate models have been improving in accuracy and efficiency over the past few decades, it now seems that these incremental improvements may be slowing. As tera/petascale computing becomes massively parallel, our legacy codes are less suitable, and even with the increased resolution that we are now beginning to use, these models cannot represent the multiscale nature of the climate system. This paper argues that it may be time to reconsider the use of adaptive mesh refinement for weather and climate forecasting in order to achieve good scaling and representation of the wide range of spatial scales in the atmosphere and ocean. Furthermore, the challenge of introducing living organisms and human responses into climate system models is only just beginning to be tackled. We do not yet have a clear framework in which to approach the problem, but it is likely to cover such a huge number of different scales and processes that radically different methods may have to be considered. The challenges of multiscale modelling and petascale computing provide an opportunity to consider a fresh approach to numerical modelling of the climate (or Earth) system, which takes advantage of the computational fluid dynamics developments in other fields and brings new perspectives on how to incorporate Earth system processes. This paper reviews some of the current issues in climate (and, by implication, Earth) system modelling, and asks the question whether a new generation of models is needed to tackle these problems.

scholarly journals Carbon–Concentration and Carbon–Climate Feedbacks in CMIP5 Earth System Models

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 5289-5314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivek K. Arora ◽  
George J. Boer ◽  
Pierre Friedlingstein ◽  
Michael Eby ◽  
Chris D. Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Concentration ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Co2 Flux ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
Earth System ◽  
System Models ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Earth System Models

Abstract The magnitude and evolution of parameters that characterize feedbacks in the coupled carbon–climate system are compared across nine Earth system models (ESMs). The analysis is based on results from biogeochemically, radiatively, and fully coupled simulations in which CO2 increases at a rate of 1% yr−1. These simulations are part of phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The CO2 fluxes between the atmosphere and underlying land and ocean respond to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration and to changes in temperature and other climate variables. The carbon–concentration and carbon–climate feedback parameters characterize the response of the CO2 flux between the atmosphere and the underlying surface to these changes. Feedback parameters are calculated using two different approaches. The two approaches are equivalent and either may be used to calculate the contribution of the feedback terms to diagnosed cumulative emissions. The contribution of carbon–concentration feedback to diagnosed cumulative emissions that are consistent with the 1% increasing CO2 concentration scenario is about 4.5 times larger than the carbon–climate feedback. Differences in the modeled responses of the carbon budget to changes in CO2 and temperature are seen to be 3–4 times larger for the land components compared to the ocean components of participating models. The feedback parameters depend on the state of the system as well the forcing scenario but nevertheless provide insight into the behavior of the coupled carbon–climate system and a useful common framework for comparing models.

scholarly journals Atmospheric processing of iron in mineral and combustion aerosols: development of an intermediate-complexity mechanism suitable for Earth system models

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 14175-14196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Scanza ◽  
Douglas S. Hamilton ◽  
Carlos Perez Garcia-Pando ◽  
Clifton Buck ◽  
Alex Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxalic Acid ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Iron Solubility ◽  
Soluble Iron ◽  
System Models ◽  
Intermediate Complexity ◽  
Atmospheric Processing ◽  
Combustion Aerosols ◽  
Earth System Models

Abstract. Atmospheric processing of iron in dust and combustion aerosols is simulated using an intermediate-complexity soluble iron mechanism designed for Earth system models. The solubilization mechanism includes both a dependence on aerosol water pH and in-cloud oxalic acid. The simulations of size-resolved total, soluble and fractional iron solubility indicate that this mechanism captures many but not all of the features seen from cruise observations of labile iron. The primary objective was to determine the extent to which our solubility scheme could adequately match observations of fractional iron solubility. We define a semi-quantitative metric as the model mean at points with observations divided by the observational mean (MMO). The model is in reasonable agreement with observations of fractional iron solubility with an MMO of 0.86. Several sensitivity studies are performed to ascertain the degree of complexity needed to match observations; including the oxalic acid enhancement is necessary, while different parameterizations for calculating model oxalate concentrations are less important. The percent change in soluble iron deposition between the reference case (REF) and the simulation with acidic processing alone is 63.8 %, which is consistent with previous studies. Upon deposition to global oceans, global mean combustion iron solubility to total fractional iron solubility is 8.2 %; however, the contribution of fractional iron solubility from combustion sources to ocean basins below 15∘ S is approximately 50 %. We conclude that, in many remote ocean regions, sources of iron from combustion and dust aerosols are equally important. Our estimates of changes in deposition of soluble iron to the ocean since preindustrial climate conditions suggest roughly a doubling due to a combination of higher dust and combustion iron emissions along with more efficient atmospheric processing.

scholarly journals Biogeophysical effects of historical land cover changes simulated by six Earth system models of intermediate complexity

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 587-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Brovkin ◽  
M. Claussen ◽  
E. Driesschaert ◽  
T. Fichefet ◽  
D. Kicklighter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Changes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
System Models ◽  
Intermediate Complexity ◽  
Earth System Models
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document