1 Impact of Ocean Model Resolution on CCSM Climate Simulations
The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal glob...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.646.6936 http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~bitz/Kirtman_etal2011.pdf |
| Summary: | The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal global coupled climate simulations. The purpose of this paper is to document how increased ocean model resolution impacts the simulation of large-scale climate variability. The model used for this study is the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3.5 (CCSM3.5)- the forerunner to CCSM4. Two experiments are reported here. The first experiment (i.e., control) is a 155-year present-day climate simulation using a 0.5º atmosphere component (zonal resolution 0.625º meridional resolution 0.5º) coupled to ocean and sea-ice components with zonal resolution of 1.2º and meridional resolution varying from 0.27º at the equator to 0.54º in the mid-latitudes. The second simulation uses the same atmospheric model coupled to 0.1º ocean and sea-ice component models. The simulations are compared in terms of how the representation of smaller scale features in the time mean ocean circulation and ocean eddies impact the mean and variable climate. In terms of the global mean surface |
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