scholarly journals Comments on Multi-Scale Sea ice Kinematics Modeling with a Grid Hierarchy in Community Earth System Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Dansereau
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiming Xu ◽  
Jialiang Ma ◽  
Lu Zhou ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Jiping Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. High-resolution sea ice modeling is becoming widely available for both operational forecasts and climate studies. Sea ice kinematics is the most prominent feature of high-resolution simulations, and with rheology models such as Viscous-Plastic, current models are able to reproduce multi-fractality and linear kinematic features in satellite observations. In this study, we carry out multi-scale sea ice modeling with Community Earth System Model (CESM) by using a grid hierarchy (22 km, 7.3 km, and 2.5 km grid stepping in the Arctic). By using atmospherically forced experiments, we simulate consistent sea ice climatology across the 3 resolutions. Furthermore, the model reproduces reasonable sea ice kinematics, including multi-fractal deformation and scaling properties that are temporally changing and dependent on circulation patterns and forcings (e.g., Arctic Oscillation). With the grid hierarchy, we are able to evaluate the model's effective spatial resolution regarding the statistics of kinematics, which is estimated to be about 6 to 7 times that of the grid's native resolution. Besides, we show that in our model, the convergence of the Elastic-Viscous-Plastic (EVP) rheology scheme plays an important role in reproducing reasonable kinematics statistics, and more strikingly, simulates systematically thinner sea ice than the standard, non-convergent experiments in landfast ice regions of Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Given the wide adoption of EVP and subcycling settings in current models, it highlights the importance of EVP convergence especially for climate studies and projections. The new grids and the model integration in CESM are openly provided for public use.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 603-628
Author(s):  
Shiming Xu ◽  
Jialiang Ma ◽  
Lu Zhou ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Jiping Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. High-resolution sea ice modeling is becoming widely available for both operational forecasts and climate studies. In traditional Eulerian grid-based models, small-scale sea ice kinematics represent the most prominent feature of high-resolution simulations, and with rheology models such as viscous–plastic (VP) and Maxwell elasto-brittle (MEB), sea ice models are able to reproduce multi-fractal sea ice deformation and linear kinematic features that are seen in high-resolution observational datasets. In this study, we carry out modeling of sea ice with multiple grid resolutions by using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and a grid hierarchy (22, 7.3, and 2.4 km grid stepping in the Arctic). By using atmospherically forced experiments, we simulate consistent sea ice climatology across the three resolutions. Furthermore, the model reproduces reasonable sea ice kinematics, including multi-fractal spatial scaling of sea ice deformation that partially depends on atmospheric circulation patterns and forcings. By using high-resolution runs as references, we evaluate the model's effective resolution with respect to the statistics of sea ice kinematics. Specifically, we find the spatial scale at which the probability density function (PDF) of the scaled sea ice deformation rate of low-resolution runs matches that of high-resolution runs. This critical scale is treated as the effective resolution of the coarse-resolution grid, which is estimated to be about 6 to 7 times the grid's native resolution. We show that in our model, the convergence of the elastic–viscous–plastic (EVP) rheology scheme plays an important role in reproducing reasonable kinematics statistics and, more strikingly, simulates systematically thinner sea ice than the standard, non-convergent experiments in landfast ice regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Given the wide adoption of EVP and subcycling settings in current models, it highlights the importance of EVP convergence, especially for climate studies and projections. The new grids and the model integration in CESM are openly provided for public use.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amélie Desmarais ◽  
Bruno Tremblay

AbstractUncertainties in the timing of a seasonal ice cover in the Arctic Ocean depend on model physics and parameterizations, natural variability at decadal timescales and uncertainties in climate scenarios and forcings. We use the Gridded Monthly Sea-Ice Extent and Concentration, 1850 Onward product to assess the simulated decadal variability from the Community Earth System Model – Large Ensemble (CESM-LE) in the Pacific, Eurasian and Atlantic sector of the Arctic where a longer observational record exists. Results show that sea-ice decadal (8-16 years) variability in CESM-LE is in agreement with the observational record in the Pacific sector of the Arctic, underestimated in the Eurasian sector of the Arctic, specifically in the East-Siberian Sea, and slightly overestimated in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, specifically in the Greenland Sea. Results also show an increase in variability at decadal timescales in the Eurasian and Pacific sectors during the transition to a seasonally ice-free Arctic, in agreement with the observational record although this increase is delayed by 10-20 years. If the current sea-ice retreat in the Arctic continues to be Pacific-centric, results from the CESM-LE suggest that uncertainty in the timing of an ice-free Arctic associated with natural variability is realistic, but that a seasonal ice cover may occur earlier than projected.


2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (69) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Roberts ◽  
Anthony Craig ◽  
Wieslaw Maslowski ◽  
Robert Osinski ◽  
Alice Duvivier ◽  
...  

AbstractThis work evaluates the fidelity of the polar marine Ekman layer in the Regional Arctic System Model (RASM) and Community Earth System Model (CESM) using sea-ice inertial oscillations as a proxy for ice-ocean Ekman transport. A case study is presented that demonstrates that RASM replicates inertial oscillations in close agreement with motion derived using the GPS. This result is obtained from a year-long case study pre-dating the recent decline in perennial Arctic sea ice, using RASM with sub-hourly coupling between the atmosphere, sea-ice and ocean components. To place this work in context, the RASM coupling method is applied to CESM, increasing the frequency of oceanic flux exchange from once per day in the standard CESM configuration, to every 30 min. For a single year simulation, this change causes a considerable increase in the median inertial ice speed across large areas of the Southern Ocean and parts of the Arctic sea-ice zone. The result suggests that processes associated with the passage of storms over sea ice (e.g. oceanic mixing, sea-ice deformation and surface energy exchange) are underestimated in Earth System Models that do not resolve inertial frequencies in their marine coupling cycle.


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