Abstract. If model parameterizations of unresolved physics, such as the variety of upper ocean mixing processes, are to hold over the large range of time and space scales of importance to climate, they must be strongly physically based. Observations, theories, and models of oceanic vertical mixing are surveyed. Two distinct regimes are identified: ocean mixing in the boundary layer near the surface under a variety of surface forcing conditions (stabilizing, destabilizing, and wind driven), and mixing in the ocean interior due to internal waves, shear instability, and double diffusion (arising from the different molecular diffusion rates of heat and salt). Mixing schemes commonly applied to the upper ocean are shown not to contain some potentially important boundary layer physics. Therefore a new parameterization of oceanic boundary layer mixing is developed to accommodate some of this physics. It includes a scheme for determining the boundary layer depth h, where the turbulent contribution to the vertical shear of a bulk Richardson number is parameterized. Expressions for diffusivity and nonlocal transport throughout the boundary layer are given. The diffusivity is formulated to agree with similarity theory of turbulence in the surface layer and is subject to the conditions that both it and its vertical gradient match the interior values at h. This nonlocal "K profile parameterization" (KPP) is then verified and compared to alternatives, including its atmospheric counterparts. Its most important feature is shown to be the capability of the boundary layer to penetrate well into a stable thermocline in both con- INTRODUCTIONA major challenge in the creation of Earth system models is the development of improved submodels of all its components, including the ocean. Recent experiences with coupled atmosphere-ocean models demonstrate that extensive and pervasive difficulties arise because of a mismatch in the equilibrium surface heat flux of each model individually. To avoid the resulting climate drift, flux corrections are often applied [Sausen et al., 1988]. A demanding, but physically more attractive alternative is model improvement. A critical requirement for an ocean submodel is that it simulate the annual cycle of sea surface temperature (SST) globally, since SST is the most important ocean property governing the exchange of energy between the ocean and atmosphere. The SST represents a balance among many processes, including air-sea exchange, oceanic transport, and vertical mixing. The latter must be parameterized because the processes involve small The first objective of this paper is to choose, from a wide assortment of classes, a vertical mixing scheme that can be developed into a suitable OBL model for climate studies. The choices are surveyed in the secplanetary boundary layers then discusses various PBL models. These layers are fundamentally turbulent and extend from near the surface to the boundary layer depth h, which is the limit to which boundary layer eddies can penetrate in the vertical. PBL models...

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The Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) has recently been developed and released to the climate community. CCSM3 is a coupled climate model with components representing the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land surface connected by a flux coupler. CCSM3 is designed to produce realistic simulations over a wide range of spatial resolutions, enabling inexpensive simulations lasting several millennia or detailed studies of continental-scale dynamics, variability, and climate change. This paper will show results from the configuration used for climate-change simulations with a T85 grid for the atmosphere and land and a grid with approximately 1°resolution for the ocean and sea ice. The new system incorporates several significant improvements in the physical parameterizations. The enhancements in the model physics are designed to reduce or eliminate several systematic biases in the mean climate produced by previous editions of CCSM. These include new treatments of cloud processes, aerosol radiative forcing, landatmosphere fluxes, ocean mixed layer processes, and sea ice dynamics. There are significant improvements in the sea ice thickness, polar radiation budgets, tropical sea surface temperatures, and cloud radiative effects. CCSM3 can produce stable climate simulations of millennial duration without ad hoc adjustments to the fluxes exchanged among the component models. Nonetheless, there are still systematic biases in the ocean-atmosphere fluxes in coastal regions west of continents, the spectrum of ENSO variability, the spatial distribution of precipitation in the tropical oceans, and continental precipitation and surface air temperatures. Work is under way to extend CCSM to a more accurate and comprehensive model of the earth's climate system.

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By simulating biogeochemical cycles, the Greenland ice sheet, and more-with reach to the lower thermosphere-this system gives the research community a flexible, state-of-thescience tool for understanding climate variability and change.