VIKING20X aims at hindcast simulations of Atlantic Ocean circulation variability on monthly to multi-decadal timescales and with a spatial resolution sufficient to capture mesoscale processes well into subarctic latitudes.
VIKING20X is an expanded and updated version of the original VIKING20 model configuration, now covering the Atlantic from the Nordic Seas towards the southern tip of Africa with a 1/20 degree grid, nested into a global ocean–sea-ice model at 1/4 degree resolution.
The applied atmospheric forcing JRA55-do (with “do” for “driving the ocean”) builds on the Japanese reanalysis product JRA-55 with improvements through the implementation of satellite and several other reanalysis products. All atmospheric forcing fields are available on a 1/2 degree horizontal grid at 3-hourly temporal resolution covering the period 1958 to 2019. JRA55-do will be continuously extended into the present at least until 2023. Along with the atmospheric fields, JRA55-do also provides an interannually varying daily river runoff field at 1/4∘ horizontal resolution, which includes freshwater fluxes from ice sheets. For Greenland, this even includes the enhanced observed melting of the past decades.
Getzlaff, Klaus; Schwarzkopf, Franziska U. (2022). VIKING20X-JRA-short: A first look at recent years of the VIKING20X simulation using JRA55-do atmospheric forcing. World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ. https://www.wdc-climate.de/ui/entry?acronym=VIKING20XJRAshort