List of EC Earth simulations - UU-IMAU/Earth-System-Modelling GitHub Wiki
Last Update: November 2020 Contact Person: Sybren Drijfhout ([email protected])
Logistic remarks
Because EC-Earth is supported by a consortium of European countries model runs are sometimes shared by 8-10 partners to create an ensemble of runs. Researchers and students from IMAU can have access to these runs, if they collaborate (or are supervised) by someone from KNMI. Data that is created by KNMI is always accessible, data from other EC-Earth partners is in principle also accessible, but sometimes can be logistically more demanding to access. In each case, the special professor on behalf of KNMI (Sybren Drijfhout; [email protected]) will act as contact point/mediator to work with EC-Earth data.
Existing and upcoming EC-earth simulations
Model runs with the European Climate Model (ESM) EC-Earth are almost exclusively carried out within the various Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs) of the overarching Climate Model Intercomparison project (CMIP) that is organised in support of each new IPCC Report. The current one being CMIP6.
Standard version EC-Earth
The model runs can be carried out by different configurations of EC-Earth, and sometimes different versions. Most runs are performed with the standard version of EC-Earth3, which has an atmospheric resolution of T255 (ca 80 km)), 91 vertical layers, coupled to a one degree ocean (and sea-ice) model with 75 vertical layers. The standard version has no carbon cycle included, no interactive vegetation, ice sheet, aerosols and chemistry. See below for non-standard simulations.
For CMIP6, the following runs have been carried out or are planned with the standard version:
| Simulation | Nr Members | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| AMIP | 7 | 1979-2014 forced by observed SSTs |
| piControl/piC | 1 | pre-industrial (permanent 1850 conditions) |
| 1pc4xCO2 | 2 | start from piC, increase CO2 by 1%/year till quadrupled |
| Abrupt 4xCO2 | 3 | start from piC, suddenly quadruple CO2 concentrations |
| Historical | 17 | historical forcing from 1850-2014 |
Additional features
Further simulations have been carried out where additional features are switched on:
| Model Versio | Explanation |
|---|---|
| EC-Earth-CC | active carbon cycle |
| EC-Earth-Veg | interactive vegetation |
| EC-Earth-GriS | interactive Greenland ice sheet |
| EC-Earth-AerChem | interactive aerosol and chemistry |
For these model versions, the same simulations have been carried out as described above, but with a lower number of ensemble members; in particular, GriS and AerChem only have 1 member per experiment.
Alternative model resolution
There is also a lowres version LR with a T159 atmosphere (128 km) and 61 vertical layers, ocean model unchanged) and a highres version HR with atmosphere at T511 resolution (40 km) and a 0.25-degree ocean. The HR version has a control run with 1950 conditions and 3 members present-day 1950-2014 and 3 members for the scenario run 2014-2050 SSP585. The other runs are not performed. At present it is planned to extend the SSP585 runs to 2100 (1 member already available) and run 3 twin experiments in which meltwater fluxes from Greenland and possibly Antarctica will be added to the SSP585 run.
Upcoming and miscellaneous
Many more SSP runs are now planned and partly already carried out with the standard version of EC-Earth, but no overview of what is available exists. This partly because the PiC is retuned due to the presence of a large AMOC-related oscillation in that run which modulates global mean temperature with ~ 1 deg Celsius, which is deemed undesirable.
In addition, EC-Earth recently participated in a so-called COVID-MIP, including a two-year and a permanent emission reduction in line with the observed COVID-impact on emissions (Greenhouse and aerosols) using as baseline the SSP245 scenario.