High-resolution global climate modelling: the UPSCALE project, a large-simulation campaign

Mizielinski, Matthew S.; Roberts, Malcolm; Vidale, Pier Luigi; Schiemann, R.; Demory, Marie-Estelle; Strachan, Jane; Edwards, TL; Stephens, Ag; Lawrence, B. N.; Pritchard, M.; Chiu, Ping-Gin; Iwi, Alan; Churchill, J. R.; Novales, Cristina Del Cano; Kettleborough, J.; Roseblade, W.; Selwood, Paul; Foster, Michael J.; Glover, M.; Malcolm, Andrew J.

doi:10.5194/gmd-7-1629-2014

Cited by 67 publications

(69 citation statements)

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“…It broadly follows the methodology of Mizuta et al (2008), enabling a smooth, continuous transition from the present day into the future. The rate of future warming is derived from an ensemble mean of CMIP5 RCP8.5 simulations, while the interannual variability is derived from the historic 1950-2014 period.…”

Section: Detailed Description Of Sst and Sea-ice Forcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Higher-resolution simulations, with resolutions of at least 50 km in the atmosphere and 0.25 • in the ocean, have only been performed at relatively few research centres until now, and generally these have been individual "simulation campaigns" rather than large multi-model comparisons (e.g. Shaffrey et al, 2009;Navarra et al, 2010;Delworth et al, 2012;Kinter et al, 2013;Mizielinski et al, 2014;Davini et al, 2016). Due to the large computer resources needed for these simulations, synergy will be gained if they are carried out in a coordinated way, enabling the construction of a multi-model ensemble (since the ensemble size for each model will be limited) with common integration periods, forcing, and boundary conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Robust projections and predictions of climate variability and change, particularly at regional scales, rely on the driving processes being represented with fidelity in model simulations. The role of enhanced horizontal resolution in improved process representation in all components of the climate system is of growing interest, particularly as some recent simulations suggest both the possibility of significant changes in large-scale aspects of circulation as well as improvements in small-scale processes and extremes.However, such high-resolution global simulations at climate timescales, with resolutions of at least 50 km in the atmosphere and 0.25 • in the ocean, have been performed at relatively few research centres and generally without overall coordination, primarily due to their computational cost. Assessing the robustness of the response of simulated climate to model resolution requires a large multi-model ensemble using a coordinated set of experiments. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) is the ideal framework within which to conduct such a study, due to the strong link to models being developed for the CMIP DECK experiments and other model intercomparison projects (MIPs).Increases in high-performance computing (HPC) resources, as well as the revised experimental design for CMIP6, now enable a detailed investigation of the impact of increased resolution up to synoptic weather scales on the simulated mean climate and its variability.The High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) presented in this paper applies, for the first time, a multi-model approach to the systematic investigation of the impact of horizontal resolution. A coordinated set of experiments has been designed to assess both a standard and an enhanced horizontal-resolution simulation in the atmosphere and ocean. The set of HighResMIP experiments is divided into three tiers consisting of atmosphere-only and coupled runs and spanning the period 1950-2050, with the possibility of extending to 2100, together with some additional targeted experiments. This paper describes the experimental set-up of HighResMIP, the analysis plan, the connection with the other CMIP6 endorsed MIPs, as well as the DECK and CMIP6 historical simulations. HighResMIP thereby focuses on one of the CMIP6 broad questions, "what are the origins and consequences of systematic model biases?", but we also discuss how it addresses the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) grand challenges.

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Section: Detailed Description Of Sst and Sea-ice Forcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

et al. 2016

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“…From this table, it appears that increasing the resolution of atmosphere and/or ocean has beneficial impacts on the representation of the Asian monsoon independently of the baseline resolution in both AGCMs (Sperber et al 1994;Lal et al 1997;Branković and Gregory 2001;Mizielinski et al 2014;Johnson et al 2016) and CGCMs (Gent et al 2010;Delworth et al 2012). Despite those improvements, many studies acknowledge that the main biased features of the monsoon are not corrected by increasing resolution (Martin 1999;Johnson et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of Increasing the Model Resolution for the Seasonal Forecast Quality in EC-Earth

et al. 2016

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Resolution in climate models is thought to be an important factor for advancing seasonal prediction capability. To test this hypothesis, seasonal ensemble reforecasts are conducted over 1993-2009 with the European community model EC-Earth in three configurations: standard resolution (;18 and ;60 km in the ocean and atmosphere models, respectively), intermediate resolution (;0.258 and ;60 km), and high resolution (;0.258 and ;39 km), the two latter configurations being used without any specific tuning. The model systematic biases of 2-m temperature, sea surface temperature (SST), and wind speed are generally reduced. Notably, the tropical Pacific cold tongue bias is significantly reduced, the Somali upwelling is better represented, and excessive precipitation over the Indian Ocean and over the Maritime Continent is decreased. In terms of skill, tropical SSTs and precipitation are better reforecasted in the Pacific and the Indian Oceans at higher resolutions. In particular, the Indian monsoon is better predicted. Improvements are more difficult to detect at middle and high latitudes. Still, a slight improvement is found in the prediction of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) along with a more realistic representation of atmospheric blocking. The sea ice extent bias is unchanged, but the skill of the reforecasts increases in some cases, such as in summer for the pan-Arctic sea ice. All these results emphasize the idea that the resolution increase is an essential feature for forecast system development. At the same time, resolution alone cannot tackle all the forecast system deficiencies and will have to be implemented alongside new physical improvements to significantly push the boundaries of seasonal prediction.

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“…1). RCM12 is similar to the standard MetUM Global Atmosphere 3.0 (GA3.0) configuration (Walters et al 2014;Mizielinski et al 2014), parameterizing cumulus convection (Gregory and Rowntree 1990) and employing the standard MetUM one-dimensional (1D) planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme (Lock et al 2000).…”

Section: A Rcm Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale Interactions between the MJO and the Western Maritime Continent

et al. 2016

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State-of-the-art regional climate model simulations that are able to resolve key mesoscale circulations are used, for the first time, to understand the interaction between the large-scale convective environment of the MJO and processes governing the strong diurnal cycle over the islands of the Maritime Continent (MC). Convection is sustained in the late afternoon just inland of the coasts because of sea breeze convergence. Previous work has shown that the variability in MC rainfall associated with the MJO is manifested in changes to this diurnal cycle; land-based rainfall peaks before the active convective envelope of the MJO reaches the MC, whereas oceanic rainfall rates peak while the active envelope resides over the region. The model simulations show that the main controls on oceanic MC rainfall in the early active MJO phases are the large-scale environment and atmospheric stability, followed by high oceanic latent heat flux forced by high near-surface winds in the later active MJO phases. Over land, rainfall peaks before the main convective envelope arrives (in agreement with observations), even though the large-scale convective environment is only moderately favorable for convection. The causes of this early rainfall peak are strong convective triggers from land-sea breeze circulations that result from high surface insolation and surface heating. During the peak MJO phases cloud cover increases and surface insolation decreases, which weakens the strength of the mesoscale circulations and reduces land-based rainfall, even though the large-scale environment remains favorable for convection at this time. Hence, scale interactions are an essential part of the MJO transition across the MC.

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High-resolution global climate modelling: the UPSCALE project, a large-simulation campaign

Cited by 67 publications

References 25 publications

High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

Benefits of Increasing the Model Resolution for the Seasonal Forecast Quality in EC-Earth

Scale Interactions between the MJO and the Western Maritime Continent

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