High Resolution, Multi-Century, Coupled Climate Simulation

This animation depicts year 109 from a 155
year climate simulation in which a 0.1 degree
ocean and sea-ice model is coupled to a 0.5
degree atmosphere and land model. Sea ice
thickness is shown at the poles, and sea
surface temperature is rendered as a colored
contour over the oceans. This simulation
represents the first ever multi-century fully
coupled simulation with an eddy-resolving
ocean. This control run shows present day
conditions and provides a proof-of-concept
for using large scale computing systems to
achieve significantly increased model
resolution.

Note the presence of sharp sea surface
temperature gradients, spinning ocean eddies,
and hurricane tracks that appear as transient
cold wakes east of Japan. While this
simulation has excellent Antarctic sea ice
statistics, it exhibits unrealistic behavior in the
Arctic with less than expected sea ice
thickness and coverage.

Researcher: Dr. J. M. Dennis (NCAR)

Collaborators:
James Kinter (COLA)
Cecilia Bitz (University of Washington)
Frank Bryan (NCAR)
John Dennis (NCAR)
Ben Kirtman (University of Miami)
Richard Loft (NCAR)
Cristiana Stan (COLA)
Mariana Vertenstein (NCAR)

Visualization:
Tim Scheitlin (NCAR)
Ryan McVeigh (NCAR)

http://vets.ucar.edu/vg/CICE/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• atmosphere
• climate
• change
• global
• warming
• ocean
• temperature
• ncar
• ucar
• sea
• ice
• coupled
• model
• simulation
• visualization
• cice