PD_ERA_UNREF: ICON simulation with globally uniform resolution, present-day climate, ERA5 forcing

hdl:21.14106/4cd1b658f3423d48216786978545aca1a51de6af

Koehler, Raphael; Handorf, Dörthe

Dataset
Summary
This dataset contains post-processed model output from the globally uniform-resolution ICON simulation PD_ERA_UNREF, conducted as part of WP2 of the EU Horizon 2020 project PolarRES. The simulation uses ICON version 2.6.6 in atmosphere-only mode, forced with observed boundary conditions from ERA5 for the period 1985–2014. The horizontal grid is globally uniform (R3B5), corresponding to ~52.6 km resolution.

The dataset includes key atmospheric and surface variables at 6-hourly, daily, and monthly time scales. Output covers both 2D surface fields and 3D atmospheric variables on 19 interpolated pressure levels. Variables span temperature, wind, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and energy fluxes. Surface variables are provided on a regular 0.5° × 0.5° lat-lon grid; 3D fields are also interpolated vertically to pressure levels.

Files are grouped by temporal resolution and variable type. High-frequency output (6-hourly and daily) is stored in 1-year files, while monthly means and sums are stored in 30-year files, one per variable. The data are suitable for climate diagnostics, evaluation against observations or reanalyses, and for comparative studies with refined-resolution simulations (PD_ERA_REF_ARCTIC and PD_ERA_REF_ANTARC).

File names follow the convention:
ICON_<frequency>_lonlat_<dimensions>_histERA5_<year_or_period>_<variable>.nc,
where <frequency> indicates the temporal resolution (e.g. 6h, dm, mm), <dimensions> indicates surface or pressure level data (2d, plev19), and <variable> specifies the physical variable.

The following section provides a brief overview of the different file formats and variable groupings.

6-hourly data (1-year files):
Mean sea level pressure (pres_msl) on a regular lat-lon grid for each year from 1985 to 2014.

Daily sum data (1-year files):
Daily accumulated total precipitation (tot_prec) for each year from 1985 to 2014.

Daily mean 2D data (1-year files):
2-metre air temperature (t_2m) and mean sea level pressure (pres_msl) stored separately in one file per year.

Daily mean 3D data on 19 pressure levels (1-year files):
Geopotential height (geopot), temperature (temp), zonal and meridional wind components (u, v), vertical pressure velocity (omega_calc), and vertical motion (wap_m). Each variable is stored in one file per year.

Monthly mean 2D data (30-year files):
Approximately 60 variables (e.g. surface temperature, near-surface wind, energy fluxes, radiation components, snow and ice diagnostics) stored in one file per variable covering the entire period 1985–2014.

Monthly mean 3D data on 19 pressure levels (30-year files):
Temperature, wind components, vertical motion, relative humidity, specific humidity, potential vorticity, geopotential height, and pressure. One file per variable for the full 30-year period.

Monthly sum data (30-year file):
Monthly total precipitation (tot_prec) in a single file covering 1985–2014.
Project
PolarRES_ICONvR (PolarRES: Global variable-resolution ICON simulations with polar refinements)
Spatial Coverage
Longitude 0 to 359.5 Latitude -90 to 90 Altitude: 100000 Pa to 100 Pa
Temporal Coverage
1985-01-01 to 2014-12-31 (proleptic_gregorian)
Use constraints
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Data Catalog
World Data Center for Climate
Access constraints
registered users
Size
1.34 TiB (1468721783279 Byte)
Format
NetCDF
Status
completely archived
Creation Date
Future Review Date
2035-07-04
Download Permission
Please login to check permission and download options
Preview data headers
Cite as
[ Derived from parent entry - See data hierarchy tab ]
Koehler, Raphael; Handorf, Dörthe (2025). ERA5-based present-day ICON simulations with variable polar resolution. World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ. https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/PolarRES_ICON

BibTeX RIS
VariableUnit
air_pressure
CF
Pa
air_pressure_at_mean_sea_level
CF
Pa
air_temperature
CF
K
atmosphere_cloud_ice_content
CF
kg m-2
atmosphere_water_vapor_content
CF
kg m-2
cloud_area_fraction
CF
%
convective_precipitation_flux
CF
kg m-2 s-1
eastward_wind
CF
m s-1
ertel_potential_vorticity
CF
K m2 kg-1 s-1
geopotential
CF
m2 s-2
height
CF
m
lagrangian_tendency_of_air_pressure
CF
Pa/s
northward_wind
CF
m s-1
omega
CF
Pa/s
precipitation_amount
CF
kg m-2
precipitation_flux
CF
kg m-2 s-1
relative_humidity
CF
%
sea_ice_area_fraction
CF
1
sea_ice_thickness
CF
m
sea_surface_temperature
CF
K
snowfall_flux
CF
kg m-2 s-1
soil_moisture_content
CF
kg m-2
specific_humidity
CF
kg kg-1
surface_air_pressure
CF
Pa
surface_downward_eastward_stress
CF
N m-2
surface_downward_northward_stress
CF
N m-2
surface_net_downward_longwave_flux
CF
W m-2
surface_net_downward_longwave_flux_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
surface_net_downward_shortwave_flux
CF
W m-2
surface_net_downward_shortwave_flux_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
surface_roughness_length
CF
m
surface_snow_area_fraction
CF
%
surface_snow_thickness
CF
m
surface_temperature
CF
K
surface_upward_latent_heat_flux
CF
W m-2
surface_upward_sensible_heat_flux
CF
W m-2
surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air
CF
W m-2
surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
surface_upwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air
CF
W m-2
surface_upwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
toa_incoming_shortwave_flux
CF
W m-2
toa_outgoing_longwave_flux
CF
W m-2
toa_outgoing_longwave_flux_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
toa_outgoing_shortwave_flux
CF
W m-2
toa_outgoing_shortwave_flux_assuming_clear_sky
CF
W m-2
upward_air_velocity
CF
m s-1
wind_speed
CF
m s-1

Parent

ERA5-based present-day ICON simulations with variable polar resolution
Details

Parent project(s)

PolarRES: Global variable-resolution ICON simulations with polar refinements

[Entry acronym: PolarRES_ICON_UNREF] [Entry id: 5285906]