Sea Ice Simulations of FGOALS

Abstract

This chapter examines the simulated Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration, thickness and extent by the Flexible Global Ocean–Atmosphere–Land System Model Grid-point version 2 (FGOALS-g2) and the Flexible Global Ocean–Atmosphere–Land System Model Spectral version 2 (FGOALS-s2) used in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The spatial distribution and seasonal change of sea ice concentration for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are well captured by the simulations of FOGALS-g2 and FGOALS-s2, except for the sea ice edge zone with low-concentration ice that is inconsistent with the observations. Both models are able to give reasonable ice thickness averaged for the ocean basin, whereas the Arctic ice thickness gradient differs markedly from the submarine’s observation with the thickest ice in north of the Canadian Archipelago (multi-year ice zone) and thinning toward to the Russian coast (first-year ice zone). In contrast with the satellite data, both models obtain the decrease trend of the Arctic sea ice extent, yet neither can capture the observed slight increase trend of the Antarctic sea ice extent.