Influence of New Parameterization Schemes on Arctic Sea Ice Simulation

Two coupled climate models that participated in the CMIP6 project (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6), the Earth System Model of Chinese Academy of Sciences version 2 (CAS-ESM2-0), and the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System Model version 3 (NESM3) were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Main Authors: Yang Lu, Xiaochun Wang, Yijun He, Jiping Liu, Jiangbo Jin, Jian Cao, Juanxiong He, Yongqiang Yu, Xin Gao, Mirong Song, Yiming Zhang
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12040555
https://doaj.org/article/7a1028ddcd1b4c7d9c334231525ad182
Description
Summary:Two coupled climate models that participated in the CMIP6 project (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6), the Earth System Model of Chinese Academy of Sciences version 2 (CAS-ESM2-0), and the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System Model version 3 (NESM3) were assessed in terms of the impact of four new sea ice parameterization schemes. These four new schemes are related to air–ice heat flux, radiation penetration and absorption, melt ponds, and ice–ocean flux, respectively. To evaluate the effectiveness of these schemes, key sea ice variables with and without these new schemes, such as sea ice concentration (SIC) and sea ice thickness (SIT), were compared against observation and reanalysis products from 1980 to 2014. The simulations followed the design of historical experiments within the CMIP6 framework. The results revealed that both models demonstrated improvements in simulating Arctic SIC and SIT when the new parameterization schemes were implemented. The model bias of SIC in some marginal sea ice zones of the Arctic was reduced, especially during March. The SIT was increased and the transpolar gradient of SIT was reproduced. The changes in spatial patterns of SIC and SIT after adding new schemes bear similarities between the two coupled models. This suggests that the new schemes have the potential for broad application in climate models for simulation and future climate scenario projection, especially for those with underestimated SIT.