PARASO, a circum-Antarctic fully coupled ice-sheet–ocean–sea-ice–atmosphere–land model involving f.ETISh1.7, NEMO3.6, LIM3.6, COSMO5.0 and CLM4.5

• Published in: Geoscientific Model Development
• Main Authors: Pelletier, C, Fichefet, T, Goose, H, Haubner, K, Helsen, S, Huot, P.V, Kittel, Christoph, Klein, F, Le clec'h, S, van Lipzig, N.P.M, Marchi, S, Massonnet, F, Mathiot, P, Moravveji, E, Moreno-Chamarro, E, Ortega, P, Pattyn, F, Souverijns, N, Van Achter, G, Vanden Broucke, S, Vanhulle, A, Verfaillie, D, Zipf, L
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus 2022
• Subjects: Physical; chemical; mathematical & earth Sciences; Earth sciences & physical geography; Physique; chimie; mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Sciences de la terre & géographie physique; Antarc*; Antarctic; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Sea ice; Southern Ocean; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/267522; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/267522/1/gmd-15-553-2022.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-553-2022

peer reviewed We introduce PARASO, a novel five-component fully coupled regional climate model over an Antarctic circumpolar domain covering the full Southern Ocean. The state-of-the-art models used are the fast Elementary Thermomechanical Ice Sheet model (f.ETISh) v1.7 (ice sheet), the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) v3.6 (ocean), the Louvain-la-Neuve sea-ice model (LIM) v3.6 (sea ice), the COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling (COSMO) model v5.0 (atmosphere) and its CLimate Mode (CLM) v4.5 (land), which are here run at a horizontal resolution close to . One key feature of this tool resides in a novel two-way coupling interface for representing ocean–ice-sheet interactions, through explicitly resolved ice-shelf cavities. The impact of atmospheric processes on the Antarctic ice sheet is also conveyed through computed COSMO-CLM–f.ETISh surface mass exchange. In this technical paper, we briefly introduce each model's configuration and document the developments that were carried out in order to establish PARASO. The new offline-based NEMO–f.ETISh coupling interface is thoroughly described. Our developments also include a new surface tiling approach to combine open-ocean and sea-ice-covered cells within COSMO, which was required to make this model relevant in the context of coupled simulations in polar regions. We present results from a 2000–2001 coupled 2-year experiment. PARASO is numerically stable and fully operational. The 2-year simulation conducted without fine tuning of the model reproduced the main expected features, although remaining systematic biases provide perspectives for further adjustment and development.