Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

An evaluation of the E3SMv1 Arctic ocean and sea-ice regionally refined model

Journal Article · · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (United States)
  3. Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Sopot (Poland)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) is a state-of-the-science Earth system model (ESM) with the ability to focus horizontal resolution of its multiple components in specific areas. Regionally refined global ESMs are motivated by the need to explicitly resolve, rather than parameterize, relevant physics within the regions of refined resolution, while offering significant computational cost savings relative to the respective cost of configurations with high-resolution (HR) everywhere on the globe. In this paper, we document results from the first Arctic regionally refined E3SM configuration for the ocean and sea-ice components (E3SM-Arctic-OSI), while employing data-based atmosphere, land, and hydrology components. Our aim is an improved representation of the Arctic coupled ocean and sea-ice state, its variability and trends, and the exchanges of mass and property fluxes between the Arctic and the sub-Arctic. We find that E3SM-Arctic-OSI increases the realism of simulated Arctic ocean and sea-ice conditions compared to a similar low-resolution E3SM simulation without the Arctic regional refinement in ocean and sea-ice components (E3SM-LR-OSI). In particular, exchanges through the main Arctic gateways are greatly improved with respect to E3SM-LR-OSI. Other aspects, such as the Arctic freshwater content variability and sea-ice trends, are also satisfactorily simulated. Yet, other features, such as the upper-ocean stratification and the sea-ice thickness distribution, need further improvements, involving either more advanced parameterizations, model tuning, or additional grid refinements. Overall, E3SM-Arctic-OSI offers an improved representation of the Arctic system relative to E3SM-LR-OSI, at a fraction (15 %) of the computational cost of comparable global high-resolution configurations, while permitting exchanges with the lower-latitude oceans that cannot be directly accounted for in Arctic regional models.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC). Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1869602
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-20-28322
Journal Information:
Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online) Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 15; ISSN 1991-9603
Publisher:
Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (73)

Arctic Ocean basin liquid freshwater storage trend 1992-2012 journal February 2014
Atlantic Water in the Nordic Seas: Locally eddy-permitting ocean simulation in a global setup: ATLANTIC WATER IN THE NORDIC SEAS journal February 2017
Eddy-Resolving Simulation of the Atlantic Water Circulation in the Fram Strait With Focus on the Seasonal Cycle: ATLANTIC WATER IN THE FRAM STRAIT journal November 2017
The Canadian Arctic Archipelago throughflow in a multiresolution global model: Model assessment and the driving mechanism of interannual variability: Canadian Arctic Archipelago Throughflow journal September 2013
The role of the Barents sea in the Arctic Climate System: the role of the Barents sea journal September 2013
Intercomparison of the Arctic sea ice cover in global ocean–sea ice reanalyses from the ORA-IP project journal January 2016
Estimating Arctic sea ice thickness and volume using CryoSat-2 radar altimeter data journal September 2018
Arctic freshwater export: Status, mechanisms, and prospects journal February 2015
Rescaled height coordinates for accurate representation of free-surface flows in ocean circulation models journal January 2004
Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments (COREs) journal January 2009
A multi-resolution approach to global ocean modeling journal September 2013
North Atlantic simulations in Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments phase II (CORE-II). Part I: Mean states journal January 2014
Evaluation of the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian vertical coordinate method in the MPAS-Ocean model journal February 2015
An assessment of the Arctic Ocean in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations. Part I: Sea ice and solid freshwater journal March 2016
An assessment of the Arctic Ocean in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations. Part II: Liquid freshwater journal March 2016
An assessment of the Arctic Ocean in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations. Part III: Hydrography and fluxes journal April 2016
JRA-55 based surface dataset for driving ocean–sea-ice models (JRA55-do) journal October 2018
The circulation, water masses and sea-ice of Baffin Bay journal December 2004
The 2004–2008 mean and annual cycle of temperature, salinity, and steric height in the global ocean from the Argo Program journal August 2009
Increases in the Pacific inflow to the Arctic from 1990 to 2015, and insights into seasonal trends and driving mechanisms from year-round Bering Strait mooring data journal January 2018
Deriving long-term time series of sea ice cover from satellite passive-microwave multisensor data sets journal July 1999
On the total input of Antarctic waters to the deep ocean: A preliminary estimate from chlorofluorocarbon measurements journal January 2002
Revising the Bering Strait freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean journal January 2005
The large-scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic journal January 2006
Beaufort Gyre freshwater reservoir: State and variability from observations journal January 2009
Freshwater fluxes in the East Greenland Current: A decade of observations journal January 2009
The 2007 Bering Strait oceanic heat flux and anomalous Arctic sea-ice retreat: 2007 BERING STRAIT OCEANIC HEAT FLUX journal January 2010
Uncertainty in modeled Arctic sea ice volume journal January 2011
Trends in Arctic sea ice extent from CMIP5, CMIP3 and observations: ARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT FROM CMIP5 journal August 2012
Retrievals of Arctic Sea-Ice Volume and Its Trend Significantly Affected by Interannual Snow Variability journal November 2018
An Evaluation of the Ocean and Sea Ice Climate of E3SM Using MPAS and Interannual CORE‐II Forcing journal May 2019
The DOE E3SM Coupled Model Version 1: Overview and Evaluation at Standard Resolution journal July 2019
CMIP6 Models Predict Significant 21st Century Decline of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation journal June 2020
Arctic Sea Ice in CMIP6 journal May 2020
Analysis of the Beaufort Gyre Freshwater Content in 2003–2018 journal December 2019
The DOE E3SM Coupled Model Version 1: Description and Results at High Resolution journal December 2019
Sustainable Observations of the AMOC: Methodology and Technology journal January 2020
Warming and Freshening of the Pacific Inflow to the Arctic From 1990‐2019 Implying Dramatic Shoaling in Pacific Winter Water Ventilation of the Arctic Water Column journal May 2021
An Arctic source for the great salinity anomaly: A simulation of the Arctic ice-ocean system for 1955–1975 journal January 1993
Oceanic vertical mixing: A review and a model with a nonlocal boundary layer parameterization journal January 1994
Arctic amplification is caused by sea-ice loss under increasing CO2 journal January 2019
Labrador Sea freshening linked to Beaufort Gyre freshwater release journal February 2021
Variability in Atlantic water temperature and transport at the entrance to the Arctic Ocean, 1997–2010 journal April 2012
Warming of the interior Arctic Ocean linked to sea ice losses at the basin margins journal August 2018
Temporal Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5 N journal August 2007
Greater role for Atlantic inflows on sea-ice loss in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean journal April 2017
The Future of Arctic Sea Ice journal May 2012
PHC: A Global Ocean Hydrography with a High-Quality Arctic Ocean journal May 2001
Isopycnal Mixing in Ocean Circulation Models journal January 1990
Modeling Global Sea Ice with a Thickness and Enthalpy Distribution Model in Generalized Curvilinear Coordinates journal May 2003
Can Southern Ocean Eddy Effects Be Parameterized in Climate Models? journal January 2014
Land Surface Climate in the Regional Arctic System Model journal September 2016
Development of the Regional Arctic System Model (RASM): Near-Surface Atmospheric Climate Sensitivity journal August 2017
A spatial evaluation of Arctic sea ice and regional limitations in CMIP6 historical simulations journal May 2021
Multiyear Volume, Liquid Freshwater, and Sea Ice Transports through Davis Strait, 2004–10 journal April 2014
Volume and Freshwater Flux Observations from Nares Strait to the West of Greenland at Daily Time Scales from 2003 to 2009 journal January 2016
Fram Strait freshwater transport and gridded monthly mean velocity and salinity 1997-2015 dataset January 2018
Monitoring the volume, freshwater and heat fluxes passing through Lancaster sound in the Canadian arctic archipelago journal March 2005
Simulating transient ice-ocean Ekman transport in the Regional Arctic System Model and Community Earth System Model journal January 2015
CryoSat-2 Level 4 Sea Ice Elevation, Freeboard, and Thickness, Version 1 dataset January 2017
Arctic Sea Ice Freeboard and Thickness, Version 1 dataset January 2009
A 4.5 km resolution Arctic Ocean simulation with the global multi-resolution model FESOM 1.4 journal January 2018
Evaluation of the atmosphere–land–ocean–sea ice interface processes in the Regional Arctic System Model version 1 (RASM1) using local and globally gridded observations journal January 2018
Evaluation of global ocean–sea-ice model simulations based on the experimental protocols of the Ocean Model Intercomparison Project phase 2 (OMIP-2) journal January 2020
Problems with estimation and interpretation of oceanic heat transport – conceptual remarks for the case of Fram Strait in the Arctic Ocean journal January 2009
Heat in the Barents Sea: transport, storage, and surface fluxes journal January 2010
Arctic Ocean circulation and variability – advection and external forcing encounter constraints and local processes journal January 2012
Uncertainties in Arctic sea ice thickness and volume: new estimates and implications for trends journal January 2014
Model data in support of the E3SMv1-Arctic-OSI GMD manuscript (2021) dataset January 2021
Model data in support of the E3SMv1-Arctic-OSI GMD manuscript (2021) dataset January 2021
A Synthesis of Exchanges Through the Main Oceanic Gateways to the Arctic Ocean journal September 2011
The Ice-Tethered Profiler: Argo of the Arctic journal September 2011
A Synthesis of Year-Round Interdisciplinary Mooring Measurements in the Bering Strait (1990–2014) and the RUSALCA Years (2004–2011) [English] journal September 2015

Similar Records

E3SM‐Arctic: Regionally Refined Coupled Model for Advanced Understanding of Arctic Systems Interactions
Journal Article · Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems · OSTI ID:2581197
CMDV-RRM: Representation of Clouds and Convection across scales in E3SM
Technical Report · Fri Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · OSTI ID:1557030
Benthic Kinetic Energy in an Earth System Model and Observations
Technical Report · Tue Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · OSTI ID:1878026

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES