Global Climate Simulated by the Seoul National University Atmosphere Model Version 0 with a Unified Convection Scheme (SAM0-UNICON)

Abstract

AbstractAs a contribution to phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the global climate simulated by an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM), the Seoul National University Atmosphere Model version 0 with a Unified Convection Scheme (SAM0-UNICON), is compared with observation and climates simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) and Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1), on which SAM0-UNICON is based. Both SAM0-UNICON and CESM1 successfully reproduce observed global warming after 1970. The global mean climate simulated by SAM0-UNICON is roughly similar to that of CAM5/CESM1. However, SAM0-UNICON improves the simulations of the double intertropical convergence zone, shortwave cloud forcing, near-surface air temperature, aerosol optical depth, sea ice fraction, and sea surface temperature (SST), but is slightly poorer for the simulation of tropical relative humidity, Pacific surface wind stress, and ocean rainfall. Two important biases in the simulated mean climate in both models are a set of horseshoe-shaped biases of SST, sea level pressure, precipitation, and cloud radiative forcings in the central equatorial Pacific and a higher sea ice fraction in the Arctic periphery and Southern Hemispheric circumpolar regions. Both SAM0-UNICON and CESM1 simulate the observed El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) reasonably well. However, compared with CAM5/CESM1, SAM0-UNICON performs better in simulating the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), diurnal cycle of precipitation, and tropical cyclones. The aerosol indirect effect (AIE) simulated by SAM0-UNICON is similar to that from CAM5 but the magnitudes of the individual shortwave and longwave AIEs are substantially reduced.