Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition
Comparing the output of general circulation models to observations is essential for assessing and improving the quality of models. While numerical weather prediction models are routinely assessed against a large array of observations, comparing climate models and observations usually requires long t...
Published in: | Geoscientific Model Development |
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Copernicus GmbH
2023
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/1/gmd-16-1857-2023.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.117c99b9-56ed-4c6a-b21f-6465252a3d04 |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:57806 2023-07-16T03:56:46+02:00 Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition Pithan, Felix Athanase, Marylou Dahlke, Sandro Sánchez-Benítez, Antonio Shupe, Matthew D Sledd, Anne Streffing, Jan Svensson, Gunilla Jung, Thomas 2023-04-04 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/1/gmd-16-1857-2023.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.117c99b9-56ed-4c6a-b21f-6465252a3d04 unknown Copernicus GmbH https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/1/gmd-16-1857-2023.pdf Pithan, F. orcid:0000-0003-4382-3077 , Athanase, M. orcid:0000-0001-6603-9870 , Dahlke, S. orcid:0000-0002-0395-9597 , Sánchez-Benítez, A. , Shupe, M. D. , Sledd, A. , Streffing, J. , Svensson, G. and Jung, T. orcid:0000-0002-2651-1293 (2023) Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition , Geoscientific Model Development, 16 (7), pp. 1857-1873 . doi:10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023 <https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023> , hdl:10013/epic.117c99b9-56ed-4c6a-b21f-6465252a3d04 EPIC3Geoscientific Model Development, Copernicus GmbH, 16(7), pp. 1857-1873, ISSN: 1991-959X Article isiRev 2023 ftawi https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023 2023-06-25T23:20:01Z Comparing the output of general circulation models to observations is essential for assessing and improving the quality of models. While numerical weather prediction models are routinely assessed against a large array of observations, comparing climate models and observations usually requires long time series to build robust statistics. Here, we show that by nudging the large-scale atmospheric circulation in coupled climate models, model output can be compared to local observations for individual days. We illustrate this for three climate models during a period in April 2020 when a warm air intrusion reached the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition in the central Arctic. Radiosondes, cloud remote sensing and surface flux observations from the MOSAiC expedition serve as reference observations. The climate models AWI-CM1/ECHAM and AWI-CM3/IFS miss the diurnal cycle of surface temperature in spring, likely because both models assume the snowpack on ice to have a uniform temperature. CAM6, a model that uses three layers to represent snow temperature, represents the diurnal cycle more realistically. During a cold and dry period with pervasive thin mixed-phase clouds, AWI-CM1/ECHAM only produces partial cloud cover and overestimates downwelling shortwave radiation at the surface. AWI-CM3/IFS produces a closed cloud cover but misses cloud liquid water. Our results show that nudging the large-scale circulation to the observed state allows a meaningful comparison of climate model output even to short-term observational campaigns. We suggest that nudging can simplify and accelerate the pathway from observations to climate model improvements and substantially extends the range of observations suitable for model evaluation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic Geoscientific Model Development 16 7 1857 1873 |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Comparing the output of general circulation models to observations is essential for assessing and improving the quality of models. While numerical weather prediction models are routinely assessed against a large array of observations, comparing climate models and observations usually requires long time series to build robust statistics. Here, we show that by nudging the large-scale atmospheric circulation in coupled climate models, model output can be compared to local observations for individual days. We illustrate this for three climate models during a period in April 2020 when a warm air intrusion reached the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition in the central Arctic. Radiosondes, cloud remote sensing and surface flux observations from the MOSAiC expedition serve as reference observations. The climate models AWI-CM1/ECHAM and AWI-CM3/IFS miss the diurnal cycle of surface temperature in spring, likely because both models assume the snowpack on ice to have a uniform temperature. CAM6, a model that uses three layers to represent snow temperature, represents the diurnal cycle more realistically. During a cold and dry period with pervasive thin mixed-phase clouds, AWI-CM1/ECHAM only produces partial cloud cover and overestimates downwelling shortwave radiation at the surface. AWI-CM3/IFS produces a closed cloud cover but misses cloud liquid water. Our results show that nudging the large-scale circulation to the observed state allows a meaningful comparison of climate model output even to short-term observational campaigns. We suggest that nudging can simplify and accelerate the pathway from observations to climate model improvements and substantially extends the range of observations suitable for model evaluation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pithan, Felix Athanase, Marylou Dahlke, Sandro Sánchez-Benítez, Antonio Shupe, Matthew D Sledd, Anne Streffing, Jan Svensson, Gunilla Jung, Thomas |
spellingShingle |
Pithan, Felix Athanase, Marylou Dahlke, Sandro Sánchez-Benítez, Antonio Shupe, Matthew D Sledd, Anne Streffing, Jan Svensson, Gunilla Jung, Thomas Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
author_facet |
Pithan, Felix Athanase, Marylou Dahlke, Sandro Sánchez-Benítez, Antonio Shupe, Matthew D Sledd, Anne Streffing, Jan Svensson, Gunilla Jung, Thomas |
author_sort |
Pithan, Felix |
title |
Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
title_short |
Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
title_full |
Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
title_fullStr |
Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition |
title_sort |
nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the mosaic expedition |
publisher |
Copernicus GmbH |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/1/gmd-16-1857-2023.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.117c99b9-56ed-4c6a-b21f-6465252a3d04 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
EPIC3Geoscientific Model Development, Copernicus GmbH, 16(7), pp. 1857-1873, ISSN: 1991-959X |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57806/1/gmd-16-1857-2023.pdf Pithan, F. orcid:0000-0003-4382-3077 , Athanase, M. orcid:0000-0001-6603-9870 , Dahlke, S. orcid:0000-0002-0395-9597 , Sánchez-Benítez, A. , Shupe, M. D. , Sledd, A. , Streffing, J. , Svensson, G. and Jung, T. orcid:0000-0002-2651-1293 (2023) Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition , Geoscientific Model Development, 16 (7), pp. 1857-1873 . doi:10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023 <https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023> , hdl:10013/epic.117c99b9-56ed-4c6a-b21f-6465252a3d04 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1857-2023 |
container_title |
Geoscientific Model Development |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1857 |
op_container_end_page |
1873 |
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1771543258014416896 |