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Hierarchy of Climate Models

Table of Contents

This is an annotated bibliography of the available software for climate models. It seems that each component has been independently developed by different groups and agencies.

Also, the generic architecture for a climate model has been summarized quite well in:

1. Radiative Transfer Models

1.1. Atmospheric & Environmental Research (AER) Working Group

This group seems to have standardized the abbreviations for many models of radiative transfer.

2. Atmospheric General Circulation Models

There's a plethora of models here. I'm following Paul Edwards's A Vast Machine: Computer Models appendix (also available online) and the AIP's history of GCMs.

James Holton and Gregory Hakim's An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology (Academic Press, 2012, fifth ed.) discuss general circulation models in chapters 10–14. They cite:

  • James,
    Introduction to Circulating Atmospheres
    An excellent introduction to both theoretical and observational aspects of global general circulation
  • Lorenz,
    The Nature and Theeory of the General Circulation of the Atmosphere
    Somewhat out of date, contains excellent survey of subject (both theoretical and observational aspects)
  • Randall (ed.),
    General Circulation Model Development
    Contains articles describing all aspects of general circulation modeling.
  • Washington and Parkinson,
    An Introduction to Three-Dimensional Climate Modeling
  • Schneider (2006)
    "The General Circulation of the atmosphere"
    (preprint)

2.1. Primordial Models

Edwards classified the models in the 1955–1965 period as consisting of four families of general circulation models:

  1. Norman Phillips' model, apparently called the GCRS model (named after where he worked: the general circulation research section)
  2. the UCLA Models
  3. Lawrence Livermore model, referred to as LAM ("Leith Atmospheric Model" or "Livermore Atmospheric Model")
  4. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Pre-internet computer-based research had this pattern of: one institute came up with some program, then proselytized it on the "academic circuit" (i.e., at conferences, seminars, etc.), sharing the source code. Then followed a Cambrian explosion of innovation. Lather, rinse, repeat.

2.1.1. General Circulation Research Section [GCRS] (1956)

Note: I've seen this referred to as the "GCRS" model, but no one really expands on what that acronym abbreviates. It turns out to abbreviate "General Circulation Research Section" (which was the forerunner to the GFDL group).

This was the first published general circulation model. It was a proof of concept, starting with simplifying assumptions like barotropy and quasi-geostrophy, then removing them one by one.

  • Norman Phillips,
    "The general circulation of the atmosphere: a numerical experiment".
    Q. J. of the Roy. Met. Soc. 82, 352 (1956) 123–164;
  • J.M. Lewis,
    "Clarifying the Dynamics of the General Circulation: Phillips's 1956 Experiment".
    Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79, no.1 (1998) 39–60.

2.1.2. UCLA Models

Yale Mintz recruited Akio Arakawa (of Tokyo University) to team up and make a model. Well, it was a happy family of models, more properly.

The numbering scheme for the models seems inconsistent to me. In the book A Vast Machine, Paul Edwards enumerates them from I, to V; but on his website he starts at "prototype", then numbers them I to IV. I'll follow his book's conventions.

2.1.2.1. Model I (1960?–1965)

The initial model was completed in 1963 then abandoned in 1965.

The first Mintz/Arakawa model was a 2-level global, primitive-equation GCM at a 7° latitude x 9° longitude horizontal resolution. It included realistic land-sea distributions and surface topography. Mintz never learned to program computers; Arakawa carried out all the model coding. The UCLA prototype model has been credited as inspiring the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model.

  • Y. Mintz,
    "Design of Some Numerical General Circulation Experiments".
    Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel 76 (1958) 67–114.
  • W.E. Langlois and H.C.W. Kwok,
    "Description of the Mintz-Arakawa Numerical General Circulation Model".
    (Dept. of Meteorology, University of California at Los Angeles, 1969).
  • A. Arakawa,
    "Numerical Simulation of Large-Scale Atmospheric Motions".
    Numerical Solution of Field Problems in Continuum Physics (SIAM-AMS Proceedings, American Mathematical Society) 2 (1970) 24–40.
2.1.2.2. Model II (1965–1972??)

This extended the first model with more vertical layers. A 3-layer and 9-layer version were made.

This model inspired RAND's model pretty directly.

Edwards describes this system's characteristics:

When Arakawa returned to UCLA from Japan in 1965, he and Mintz began work on the first-generation "production" UCLA GCM. It increased model resolution to 4° latitude x 5° longitude, although it still had only two vertical levels, and introduced a new horizontal grid structure (the Arakawa/Lamb "B" grid).[5] This was an extremely influential GCM. About 1970 Lawrence Gates, a UCLA graduate, carried the model with him to the RAND Corporation, where he used it in a series of studies sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense Dept. The RAND version of the model was eventually carried to Oregon State University.[6]

The citations Edwards gives are:

  • A. Arakawa and V.R. Lamb,
    "Computational Design of the Basic Dynamical Processes of the UCLA General Circulation Model".
    In General Circulation Models of the Atmosphere, ed. J. Chang, Methods in Computational Physics: Advances in Research and Applications (San Francisco: Academic Press, 1977), 173–265.
  • D. Randall,
    "Colorado State University General Circulation Model: Introduction".
    (n.d.) available from http://kiwi.atmos.colostate.edu/BUGS/BUGSintro.html.
2.1.2.3. Model III (1972??–mid 1970s)

This incorporated Arakawa/Lamb "C" finite-difference horizontal grid. In a nutshell: the velocity vectors are evaluated at the grid-edges. It was a 12-level model. Two variants were built in the mid-1970s.

  • A.Arakawa, V.R. Lamb,
    "Computational design of the basic dynamical processes of the UCLA general circulation model".
    Methods in Computational Physics: Advances in Research and Applications 17 (1977) pp.173–265. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-460817-7.50009-4. ISBN 9780124608177.
2.1.2.4. Model IV (late 1970s)

This model employed a new vertical coordinate system which used the planetary boundary layer as a coordinate surface, and extended vertical resolution to 15 layers.

2.1.2.5. Model V (c.1990-????)

A heavily modified version of UCLA III with up to 29 vertical levels.

2.1.3. The Livermore Atmospheric Model "LAM" (1960–1965)

Cecil Leith began working on a GCM while at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Due to the nature of Lawrence Livermore (working on classified research most of the time), Leith's only unclassified publication occurred when he was ending his work on the model.

But Leith's contributions are non-negligible: he would talk at conferences about the innovative visualizations techniques, which other models began copying.

Edwards describes the model's characteristics as:

The initial model was based on the Bjerknes/Richardson primitive equations. It had five vertical levels and used a 5° x 5° horizontal grid. It covered only the northern hemisphere, with a "slippery wall" at 60°N. In order to damp the effects of small-scale atmospheric waves, Leith introduced an artificially high viscosity, which caused serious problems and stimulated Leith's career-long interest in turbulence problems.

Although this model began around 1960, the first unclassified publication appears in 1965, when Leith abandoned the project. But Leith's influence was felt in talks and presentations at conferences, where his visualization techniques were adopted by the field.

  • C.E. Leith,
    "Numerical Simulation of the Earth's Atmosphere". In Methods in Computational Physics, eds. B. Alder, S. Fernbach, and M. Rotenberg (New York: Academic Press, 1965), 1–28.
  • Characteristics

2.1.4. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (1964–????)

There are two families of models NCAR produced. One used finite difference schemes (generically referred to as NCAR family of models), the other used spectral schemes (the Community Climate Model Series, CCM).

2.1.4.1. NCAR 1 (1964–1967?)

A simple 2-layer atmosphere global model with 5-degree horizontal resolution. Although they began working on the model in 1964, the first publication on it appeared in 1967.

  • A. Kasahara and W.M. Washington,
    "NCAR Global General Circulation Model of the Atmosphere".
    Monthly Weather Review 95, no.7 (1967) pp.389–402.
2.1.4.2. NCAR 2 (1967?–1970)

he basic model had a 5° horizontal, 6-layer resolution, but it could also be run at resolutions as fine as 0.625° horizontal over a limited domain, with up to 24 vertical layers.

  • J.E. Oliger et al.,
    "Description of NCAR Global Circulation Model". National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1970
  • A. Kasahara and W. M. Washington,
    "General Circulation Experiments with a Six-Layer NCAR Model, Including Orography, Cloudiness and Surface Temperature Calculations".
    Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 28, no. 5 (1971) pp.657–701;
  • A. Kasahara et al.,
    "Simulation Experiments with a 12-Layer Stratospheric Global Circulation Model. I. Dynamical Effect of the Earth's Orography and Thermal Influence of Continentality".
    Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 30, no.7 (1973) pp.1229–51.
2.1.4.3. NCAR 3 (1970?–1973)

NCAR 3, finished about 1973, also allowed multiple resolutions, including a user-specifiable vertical increment. The most significant changes, however, involved improved finite-difference schemes.

  • W.M. Washington et al.,
    "Preliminary Atmospheric Simulation with the Third-Generation NCAR General Circulation Model: January and July".
    In Report of the JOC Conference on Climate Models: Performance, Intercomparison, and Sensitivity Studies, (ed. W. Lawrence), WMO/ICSU Joint Organizing Committee and Global Atmospheric Research Programme, 1979.
2.1.4.4. CCM-0A (197?–1977?)

The initial version of the Community Climate Model was based on the spectral model of the Australian Numerical Meteorological Research Centre. One member of the ANMRC team (K. Puri) brought the model to NCAR during an extended visit. Later, it was extensively revised.

  • W. Bourke et al.,
    "Global Modeling of Atmospheric Flow by Spectral Methods".
    In General Circulation Models of the Atmosphere, Methods in Computational Physics: Advances in Research and Applications (San Francisco: Academic Press, 1977), pp.267–324.
2.1.4.5. CCM-0B (1981–198?)

Initial code for CCM-0B came from an early version of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts model. Physical parameterizations, including the radiation and cloud routines of Ramanathan, and numerical approximations were added from CCM-0A. Energy balance and flux prescriptions from the early GFDL models were incorporated, while the finite difference scheme was derived from the Australian spectral model that was the basis for CCM-0A.

  • V. Ramanathan et al.,
    "The Response of a Spectral General Circulation Model to Refinements in Radiative Processes".
    Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 40 (1983) pp.605–630.
2.1.4.6. CCM-1 (1987?–????)

CCM-1 evolved from CCM-0B in the mid-1980s. The primary differences were changed parameterizations, new horizontal and vertical diffusion schemes, and changes to moisture adjustment and condensation schemes.

  • D.L. Williamson et al.,
    "Description of NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM1)". (National Center for Atmospheric Reasearch, 1987).

2.2. Australian Numerical Meteorological Research Centre [ANMRC] (1977)

Innovative use of spectral methods, which inspired NCAR's CCM-0A model.

  • Bourke, W.P., B. McAvaney, K. Puri, and R. Thurling, 1977:
    "Global modelling of atmospheric flow by spectral methods".
    In Methods in Computational Physics, 17, J. Chang (ed.), Academic Press, New York, 267–324.
  • McAvaney, B.J., W. Bourke, and K. Puri,
    "A global spectral model for simulation of the general circulation".
    J. Atmos. Sci. 35 (1978) 1557–1583.

Last Updated 2021-07-15 Thu 07:47.