[ Derived from parent entry - See data hierarchy tab ] The EU project European Eddy RIch Earth System Models (EERIE) is developing a new generation of Earth System Models (ESMs) that explicitly resolve ocean mesoscale dynamics, an essential but still poorly explored part of the climate system. By using recent advances in computing and model design, EERIE aims to improve long-term climate simulations, including variability, extremes, and potential tipping points influenced by mesoscale ocean processes. ICON in Sapphire configuration is one of these new models. Developed at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, ICON couples the atmosphere, land, ocean, and sea ice at kilometer-scale resolution. It resolves deep atmospheric convection and captures mesoscale to sub-mesoscale ocean eddies, with the option to refine the global ocean grid locally as a “computational telescope.” The atmospheric model (ICON-A) uses a nonhydrostatic icosahedral C grid with a hybrid sigma-z vertical coordinate and parameterizes only unresolved processes (radiation, microphysics, turbulence). The ocean model (ICON-O) shares the same grid and solves the hydrostatic Boussinesq equations, using only a subset of parameterizations such as vertical mixing and velocity dissipation. Sea ice is included via FESIM dynamics and a simplified thermodynamic scheme. Ocean biogeochemistry is represented by HAMOCC6, simulating more than 20 tracers. The land component, JSBACH 4, provides surface fluxes and simplified hydrology with prescribed vegetation. All components are coupled through the YAC coupler (v2.4.2). The main simulations were preceded by a 40-year spin-up period using 1950 CMIP6 forcing. From the spin-up’s final state, two parallel simulations were started: a 100-year control run and a historical run. The control run is used to identify and quantify model drift, ensuring that any long-term changes in the historical simulation could be attributed to variations in radiative forcing rather than internal drift. After completing the historical simulation, the experiment was extended along the SSP2-4.5 pathway to 2050, using CMIP6 scenario forcings. This extension enables estimates of near-future climate change from a long-term, kilometer-scale simulation.
[ Derived from parent entry - See data hierarchy tab ]
Kröger, Jürgen; Wickramage, Chathurika; Wachsmann, Fabian (2025). EERIE: Ocean Eddy-rich Kilometer-scale Climate Simulation with ICON-Sapphire: SSP2-4.5 Scenario Simulation (Version 1). World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ. https://www.wdc-climate.de/ui/entry?acronym=EERIE_ICON_s245_v1