Abstract
Abstract. Single-column models (SCMs) have been used as tools to help develop numerical weather prediction and global climate models for several decades. SCMs decouple small-scale processes from large-scale forcing, which allows the testing of physical parameterisations in a controlled environment with reduced computational cost. Typically, either the ocean, sea ice or atmosphere is fully modelled and assumptions have to be made regarding the boundary conditions from other subsystems, adding a potential source of error. Here, we present a fully coupled atmosphere–ocean SCM (AOSCM), which is based on the global climate model EC-Earth3. The initial configuration of the AOSCM consists of the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO3.6) (ocean), the Louvain-la-Neuve Sea Ice Model (LIM3) (sea ice), the Open Integrated Forecasting System (OpenIFS) cycle 40r1 (atmosphere), and OASIS3-MCT (coupler). Results from the AOSCM are presented at three locations: the tropical Atlantic, the midlatitude Pacific and the Arctic. At all three locations, in situ observations are available for comparison. We find that the coupled AOSCM can capture the observed atmospheric and oceanic evolution based on comparisons with buoy data, soundings and ship-based observations. The model evolution is sensitive to the initial conditions and forcing data imposed on the column. Comparing coupled and uncoupled configurations of the model can help disentangle model feedbacks. We demonstrate that the AOSCM in the current set-up is a valuable tool to advance our understanding in marine and polar boundary layer processes and the interactions between the individual components of the system (atmosphere, sea ice and ocean).
Highlights
Single-column models (SCMs) have been used for several decades to advance our understanding of physical processes and their parameterisations in numerical models
Modelled temperatures are overestimated at and below the reanalysis cloud height and are underestimated above, with cold biases peaking at the height of the modelled cloud
We demonstrate a coupled atmosphere–ocean single-column model (AOSCM) following the set-up of a future version of the climate model EC-Earth (v4, currently v3)
Summary
Single-column models (SCMs) have been used for several decades to advance our understanding of physical processes and their parameterisations in numerical models. SCMs originated from bulk models (Kraus and Turner, 1967; Niiler and Kraus, 1977). The first vertically resolved SCMs were developed in the late 1980s. Betts and Miller (1986) demonstrated the added value of an atmospheric SCM framework for the development and evaluation of a convective adjustment scheme in atmospheric models, and Price et al (1986) used an ocean SCM to study the diurnal cycle of the mixed layer in the subtropical Pacific. Research with SCMs is a valuable addition to studies with three-dimensional numerical weather prediction (NWP) models and global climate models (GCMs). By zooming into a single grid column
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