Intermediate-level Modeling of the Arctic Atmosphere

Because of its complexity and nonlinear nature, understanding of the climate system requires a hierarchy of models, ranging from simple models to comprehensive GCM/RCMs. In polar regions, the intermediate-level model niche that falls between simple models and GCM/RCMs has been largely empty. This lack of polar intermediate-level modeling capability limits our ability to study polar climate variability at interannual to interdecadal timescales and our understanding of observations and GCM/RCM results.

I am interested in developing an intermediate-level coupled ice-atmosphere-ocean model suitable for use in polar regions (first focusing on the Arctic). The model would build off of work done by the tropical ICM community (such as in constructing appropriate radiative transfer and land-surface parameterizations) while adding suitable parameterizations for physics and dynamics specific to polar regions (most prominently sea-ice). Computational demands of this model would be low enough to enable multidecadal runs to be routinely conducted on a single-processor workstation.

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