Abstract. State-of-the-art Earth system models typically employ grid spacings of O(100 km), which is too coarse to explicitly resolve main drivers of the flow of energy and matter across the Earth system. In this paper, we present the new ICON-Sapphire model configuration, which targets a representation of the components of the Earth system and their interactions with a grid spacing of 10 km and finer. Through the use of selected simulation examples, we demonstrate that ICON-Sapphire can (i) be run coupled globally on seasonal timescales with a grid spacing of 5 km, on monthly timescales with a grid spacing of 2.5 km, and on daily timescales with a grid spacing of 1.25 km; (ii) resolve large eddies in the atmosphere using hectometer grid spacings on limited-area domains in atmosphere-only simulations; (iii) resolve submesoscale ocean eddies by using a global uniform grid of 1.25 km or a telescoping grid with the finest grid spacing at 530 m, the latter coupled to a uniform atmosphere; and (iv) simulate biogeochemistry in an ocean-only simulation integrated for 4 years at 10 km. Comparison of basic features of the climate system to observations reveals no obvious pitfalls, even though some observed aspects remain difficult to capture. The throughput of the coupled 5 km global simulation is 126 simulated days per day employing 21 % of the latest machine of the German Climate Computing Center. Extrapolating from these results, multi-decadal global simulations including interactive carbon are now possible, and short global simulations resolving large eddies in the atmosphere and submesoscale eddies in the ocean are within reach.

Our current understanding about the role of the coastal ocean in the marine carbon cycle is limited and fragmentary. Considerable knowledge gaps are related to the interaction between the diverse sources and sinks of carbon in the highly heterogeneous and dynamic land-ocean transition zone and their relation to the biogeochemical processes in the open ocean (Laruelle et al., 2018;Regnier et al., 2013;Ward et al., 2017). Under present-day climatic conditions, the global coastal ocean has been identified as a net sink for atmospheric CO 2 (Laruelle et al., 2014;Gruber, 2015). However, to what extent coastal areas around the globe are taking up or releasing carbon, as well as how much of the carbon exported from the coastal areas enters the deep ocean, remains unclear

This work documents the ICON‐Earth System Model (ICON‐ESM V1.0), the first coupled model based on the ICON (ICOsahedral Non‐hydrostatic) framework with its unstructured, icosahedral grid concept. The ICON‐A atmosphere uses a nonhydrostatic dynamical core and the ocean model ICON‐O builds on the same ICON infrastructure, but applies the Boussinesq and hydrostatic approximation and includes a sea‐ice model. The ICON‐Land module provides a new framework for the modeling of land processes and the terrestrial carbon cycle. The oceanic carbon cycle and biogeochemistry are represented by the Hamburg Ocean Carbon Cycle module. We describe the tuning and spin‐up of a base‐line version at a resolution typical for models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). The performance of ICON‐ESM is assessed by means of a set of standard CMIP6 simulations. Achievements are well‐balanced top‐of‐atmosphere radiation, stable key climate quantities in the control simulation, and a good representation of the historical surface temperature evolution. The model has overall biases, which are comparable to those of other CMIP models, but ICON‐ESM performs less well than its predecessor, the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model. Problematic biases are diagnosed in ICON‐ESM in the vertical cloud distribution and the mean zonal wind field. In the ocean, sub‐surface temperature and salinity biases are of concern as is a too strong seasonal cycle of the sea‐ice cover in both hemispheres. ICON‐ESM V1.0 serves as a basis for further developments that will take advantage of ICON‐specific properties such as spatially varying resolution, and configurations at very high resolution.

Processes of stratification and destratification in the German Bight region of fresh water influence (ROFI) are investigated following an extreme river discharge event in June 2013. For this purpose, a high‐resolution baroclinic ocean model is set up and validated against field data. The model results are used to study the temporal and spatial variability of stratification and the duration of persistent stratification in 2013. The relevant processes affecting stratification are investigated by analyzing the potential energy anomaly budget, with a focus on mixing and tidal straining. It is shown that the stratification in the German Bight is highly affected by the spring‐neap tidal cycle, with generally less stratification at spring tides due to dominant tidal mixing. It is also shown that the location of the river plume can modify this pattern. During spring tides, if the river plume is confined to the eastern region, stratification decreases significantly, as expected, due to the dominance of mixing over tidal straining. On the other hand, if the river plume moves toward deeper regions at spring tides, strong tidal straining becomes present. In this condition, mixing is weak, and the dominant tidal straining results in persistent stratification.

Abstract. State-of-the-art Earth System models typically employ grid spacings of O(100 km), too coarse to explicitly resolve main drivers of the flow of energy and matter across the Earth System. In this paper, we present the new ICON-Sapphire model configuration, which targets a representation of the components of the Earth System and their interactions with a grid spacing of 10 km and finer. Through the use of selected simulation examples, we demonstrate that ICON-Sapphire can already now (i) be run coupled globally on seasonal time scales with a grid spacing of 5 km and on monthly time scales with a grid spacing of 2.5 km, (ii) resolve large eddies in the atmosphere using hectometer grid spacings on limited-area domains in atmosphere-only simulations, (iii) resolve submesoscale ocean eddies by using a global uniform grid of 1.25 km or a telescoping grid with a finest grid spacing of 530 m, the latter coupled to a uniform atmosphere and (iv) simulate biogeochemistry in an ocean-only simulation integrated for 4 years at 10 km. Comparison to observations of these various configurations reveals no obvious pitfall. The throughput of the coupled 5-km global simulation is 126 simulated days per day employing 21 % of the latest machine of the German Climate Computing Center. Extrapolating from these results, multi-decadal global simulations including interactive carbon are now possible and short global simulations resolving large eddies in the atmosphere and submesoscale eddies in the ocean are within reach.