North Atlantic simulations in Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments phase II (CORE-II). Part I: Mean states

• Published in: Ocean Modelling
• Main Authors: Danabasoglu, Gokhan, Yeager, Steve G., Bailey, David, Behrens, Erik, Bentsen, M., Bi, D., Biastoch, A., Böning, C., Bozec, A., Canuto, V., Cassou, C., Chassignet, E., Coward, A., Danilov, S., Diansky, N., Drange, H., Farneti, R., Fernandez, E., Fogli, P., Forget, G., Fujii, Y., Griffies, S., Gusev, A., Heimbach, P., Howard, A., Jung, T., Kelley, M., Large, W., Leboissetier, A., Lu, J., Madec, G., Marsland, S., Masina, S., Navarra, A., Nurser, G., Pirani, A., Melia, D., Samuels, B., Scheinert, M., Sidorenko, D., Treguier, A. M., Tsujino, H., Uotila, P., Valcke, S., Voldoire, A., Wang, Qiang
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ELSEVIER SCI LTD 2014
• Subjects: Labrador Sea; North Atlantic; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/34670/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/34670/1/CORE2_NA_part1.pdf; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1463500313001868; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.42858; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.42858.d001

Simulation characteristics from eighteen global ocean–sea-ice coupled models are presented with a focus on the mean Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and other related fields in the North Atlantic. These experiments use inter-annually varying atmospheric forcing data sets for the 60-year per- iod from 1948 to 2007 and are performed as contributions to the second phase of the Coordinated Ocean- ice Reference Experiments (CORE-II). The protocol for conducting such CORE-II experiments is summa- rized. Despite using the same atmospheric forcing, the solutions show significant differences. As most models also differ from available observations, biases in the Labrador Sea region in upper-ocean potential temperature and salinity distributions, mixed layer depths, and sea-ice cover are identified as contribu- tors to differences in AMOC. These differences in the solutions do not suggest an obvious grouping of the models based on their ocean model lineage, their vertical coordinate representations, or surface salinity restoring strengths. Thus, the solution differences among the models are attributed primarily to use of different subgrid scale parameterizations and parameter choices as well as to differences in vertica and horizontal grid resolutions in the ocean models. Use of a wide variety of sea-ice models with diverse snow and sea-ice albedo treatments also contributes to these differences. Based on the diagnostics con- sidered, the majority of the models appear suitable for use in studies involving the North Atlantic, but some models require dedicated development effort.