The GFDL-CM4X Climate Model Hierarchy, Part I: Model Description and Thermal Properties

Griffies, Stephen M.; Adcroft, Alistair; Beadling, Rebeca L.; Bushuk, Mitchell; Chang, Chiung-Yin; Drake, Henri F.; Dussin, Raphael; Hallberg, Robert W.; Hurlin, William J.; Khatri, Hemant; Krasting, John P.; Lobo, Matthew; MacGilchrist, Graeme A.; Reichl, Brandon G.; Sane, Aakash; Sergienko, Olga; Sonnewald, Maike; Steinberg, Jacob M.; Tesdal, Jan-Erik; Thomas, Matthew; Turner, Katherine E.; Ward, Marshall L.; Winton, Michael; Zadeh, Niki; Zanna, Laure; Zhang, Rong; Zhang, Wenda; Zhao, Ming

doi:10.1029/2024MS004861

i

The GFDL-CM4X Climate Model Hierarchy, Part I: Model Description and Thermal Properties

2025
By: Griffies, Stephen M. ; Adcroft, Alistair ; Beadling, Rebeca L.
Source: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2024MS004861

[PDF - 15.88 MB]

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Journal Title:

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Personal Author:

Griffies, Stephen M. ; Adcroft, Alistair ; Beadling, Rebeca L. ; Bushuk, Mitchell ; Chang, Chiung-Yin ; Drake, Henri F. ; Dussin, Raphael ; Hallberg, Robert W. ; Hurlin, William J. ; Khatri, Hemant ; Krasting, John P. ; Lobo, Matthew ; MacGilchrist, Graeme A. ; Reichl, Brandon G. ; Sane, Aakash ; Sergienko, Olga ; Sonnewald, Maike ; Steinberg, Jacob M. ; Tesdal, Jan-Erik ; Thomas, Matthew ; Turner, Katherine E. ; Ward, Marshall L. ; Winton, Michael ; Zadeh, Niki ; Zanna, Laure ; Zhang, Rong ; Zhang, Wenda ; Zhao, Ming
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ; CIMES (Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System)
Description:

We present the GFDL-CM4X (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model version 4X) coupled climate model hierarchy. The primary application for CM4X is to investigate ocean and sea ice physics as part of a realistic coupled Earth climate model. CM4X utilizes an updated MOM6 (Modular Ocean Model version 6) ocean physics package relative to CM4.0, and there are two members of the hierarchy: one that uses a horizontal grid spacing of (referred to as CM4X-p25) and the other that uses a grid (CM4X-p125). CM4X also refines its atmospheric grid from the nominally 100 km (cubed sphere C96) of CM4.0–50 km (C192). Finally, CM4X simplifies the land model to allow for a more focused study of the role of ocean changes to global mean climate. CM4X-p125 reaches a global ocean area mean heat flux imbalance of within years in a pre-industrial simulation, and retains that thermally equilibrated state over the subsequent centuries. This 1850 thermal equilibrium is characterized by roughly less ocean heat than present-day, which corresponds to estimates for anthropogenic ocean heat uptake between 1870 and present-day. CM4X-p25 approaches its thermal equilibrium only after more than 1000 years, at which time its ocean has roughly more heat than its early 21st century ocean initial state. Furthermore, the root-mean-square sea surface temperature bias for historical simulations is roughly 20% smaller in CM4X-p125 relative to CM4X-p25 (and CM4.0). We offer the mesoscale dominance hypothesis for why CM4X-p125 shows such favorable thermal equilibration properties.
Keywords:
- Climate model
Source:

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2024MS004861
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2024MS004861
Format:

PDF
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA18OAR4320123 ; Grant no. NA19OAR4310365 ; Grant no. NA18NWS4620043B ; Grant no. NA23OAR4320198 ; Grant no. NA19OAR4310364
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Submitted
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/72620/noaa_72620_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 15.88 MB]
Collection(s):

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) ; NOAA Cooperative Institutes
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:7881eef6ab0ae1eddc5d1d33213948e636bd09e5cff4cbf5fb0a66adc0eae5a6b20a92df68860d82342e1fb60a7cf0c374fc27f3df3ab6380e28e6ff7ef414be

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