Resolving and parameterising the ocean mesoscale in earth system models

Hewitt, Helene T.; Roberts, Malcolm; Mathiot, Pierre; Biastoch, Arne; Blockley, Ed; Chassignet, Eric P.; Fox-Kemper, Baylor; Hyder, Pat; Marshall, David P.; Popova, Ekaterina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2012-708X; Treguier, Anne-Marie; Zanna, Laure; Yool, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9879-2776; Yu, Yongqiang; Beadling, Rebecca; Bell, Mike; Kuhlbrodt, Till; Arsouze, Thomas; Bellucci, Alessio; Castruccio, Fred; Gan, Bolan; Putrasahan, Dian; Roberts, Christopher D.; Van Roekel, Luke; Zhang, Qiuying. 2020 Resolving and parameterising the ocean mesoscale in earth system models. Current Climate Change Reports, 6. 137-152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-020-00164-w

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text Hewitt2020_Article_ResolvingAndParameterisingTheO.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (899kB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Purpose of Review Assessment of the impact of ocean resolution in Earth System models on the mean state, variability, and future projections and discussion of prospects for improved parameterisations to represent the ocean mesoscale. Recent Findings The majority of centres participating in CMIP6 employ ocean components with resolutions of about 1 degree in their full Earth System models (eddy-parameterising models). In contrast, there are also models submitted to CMIP6 (both DECK and HighResMIP) that employ ocean components of approximately 1/4 degree and 1/10 degree (eddy-present and eddy-rich models). Evidence to date suggests that whether the ocean mesoscale is explicitly represented or parameterised affects not only the mean state of the ocean but also the climate variability and the future climate response, particularly in terms of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and the Southern Ocean. Recent developments in scale-aware parameterisations of the mesoscale are being developed and will be included in future Earth System models. Summary Although the choice of ocean resolution in Earth System models will always be limited by computational considerations, for the foreseeable future, this choice is likely to affect projections of climate variability and change as well as other aspects of the Earth System. Future Earth System models will be able to choose increased ocean resolution and/or improved parameterisation of processes to capture physical processes with greater fidelity.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-020-00164-w
ISSN:	2198-6061
Date made live:	19 Nov 2020 11:49 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528987

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...