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Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations

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Abstract

The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal global coupled climate simulations. The purpose of this paper is to examine how resolved ocean fronts and eddies impact the simulation of large-scale climate. The model used for this study is the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3.5 (CCSM3.5)—the forerunner to CCSM4. Two experiments are reported here. The control experiment is a 155-year present-day climate simulation using a 0.5° atmosphere component (zonal resolution 0.625 meridional resolution 0.5°; land surface component at the same resolution) coupled to ocean and sea-ice components with zonal resolution of 1.2° and meridional resolution varying from 0.27° at the equator to 0.54° in the mid-latitudes. The second simulation uses the same atmospheric and land-surface models coupled to eddy-resolving 0.1° ocean and sea-ice component models. The simulations are compared in terms of how the representation of smaller scale features in the time mean ocean circulation and ocean eddies impact the mean and variable climate. In terms of the global mean surface temperature, the enhanced ocean resolution leads to a ubiquitous surface warming with a global mean surface temperature increase of about 0.2 °C relative to the control. The warming is largest in the Arctic and regions of strong ocean fronts and ocean eddy activity (i.e., Southern Ocean, western boundary currents). The Arctic warming is associated with significant losses of sea-ice in the high-resolution simulation. The sea surface temperature gradients in the North Atlantic, in particular, are better resolved in the high-resolution model leading to significantly sharper temperature gradients and associated large-scale shifts in the rainfall. In the extra-tropics, the interannual temperature variability is increased with the resolved eddies, and a notable increases in the amplitude of the El Niño and the Southern Oscillation is also detected. Changes in global temperature anomaly teleconnections and local air-sea feedbacks are also documented and show large changes in ocean–atmosphere coupling. In particular, local air-sea feedbacks are significantly modified by the increased ocean resolution. In the high-resolution simulation in the extra-tropics there is compelling evidence of stronger forcing of the atmosphere by SST variability arising from ocean dynamics. This coupling is very weak or absent in the low-resolution model.

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Notes

  1. Throughout this paper, model “resolution” refers to the spacing of model grid elements.

  2. In common parlance, eddy-resolving models have horizontal resolution of less than 1/6°, in contrast to eddy-parameterized models with 1° or greater grid spacing or eddy-permitting ocean models whose resolution lies between 1/6° and 1°.

  3. See http://apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu/datadoc/scud.php.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (J. Kinter and C Stan through AGS 0830068 and OCI 0749290; B. Kirtman through OCI 0749165, AGS 0754341 and AGS 0850897; C. Bitz through ARC 0938204; F. Bryan, J. Dennis, N. Hearn, R. Loft, R. Tomas and M. Vertenstein through its support of NCAR). B. Kirtman also acknowledges support from the NOAA NA08OAR3420889. Computing resources were provided by the National Institute of Computational Sciences at the University of Tennessee through an award made by the TeraGrid Resource Allocations Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    Ben P. Kirtman, Clement Rousset & Leo Siqueira

  2. Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Cecilia Bitz

  3. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    Frank Bryan, John Dennis, Nathan Hearn, Richard Loft, Robert Tomas & Mariana Vertenstein

  4. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    William Collins

  5. Center for Ocean-Land–Atmosphere Studies, Calverton, MD, USA

    James L. Kinter III & Cristiana Stan

  6. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    James L. Kinter III & Cristiana Stan

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  1. Ben P. Kirtman
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  2. Cecilia Bitz
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Correspondence to Ben P. Kirtman.

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Kirtman, B.P., Bitz, C., Bryan, F. et al. Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations. Clim Dyn 39, 1303–1328 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1500-3

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