BGC-val: a model- and grid-independent Python toolkit to evaluate marine biogeochemical models

Mora, L. De; Yool, Andrew; Palmiéri, Julien; Sellar, Alistair; Kuhlbrodt, Till; Popova, Ekaterina; Jones, Colin; Allen, J. Icarus

doi:10.5194/gmd-11-4215-2018

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Of particular value in the development, tuning, and spin-up of UKESM1 was the availability of the BGC-val evaluation suite (de Mora et al, 2018). Focused on the ocean component, this tool automated the analysis of simulations, providing a range of plots covering geographical, depth, and globally integrated properties, as well as comparisons with observational fields where available.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate this particular target, as well as track a range of critical physical and biogeochemical properties (e.g., ocean heat content, surface temperature, top-of-atmosphere heat balance, Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and sea-ice cover), the spin-up was monitored throughout using the Met Office Climate Model Monitoring tool (CMM) and BGC-val tools (de Mora et al, 2018). Running routinely in parallel with the spin-up simulations, these tools greatly facilitated rapid decision-making during model development, as well as identifying undesireable drifts or model errors.…”

Section: Detailed Spin-up Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spin‐up of UK Earth System Model 1 (UKESM1) for CMIP6

Yool

Palmiéri

Jones

et al. 2020

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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For simulations intended to study the influence of anthropogenic forcing on climate, temporal stability of the Earth's natural heat, freshwater, and biogeochemical budgets is critical. Achieving such coupled model equilibration is scientifically and computationally challenging. We describe the protocol used to spin‐up the UK Earth system model (UKESM1) with respect to preindustrial forcing for use in the sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). Due to the high computational cost of UKESM1's atmospheric model, especially when running with interactive full chemistry and aerosols, spin‐up primarily used parallel configurations using only ocean/land components. For the ocean, the resulting spin‐up permitted the carbon and heat contents of the ocean's full volume to approach equilibrium over 5,000 years. On land, a spin‐up of 1,000 years brought UKESM1's dynamic vegetation and soil carbon reservoirs toward near‐equilibrium. The end‐states of these parallel ocean‐ and land‐only phases then initialized a multicentennial period of spin‐up with the full Earth system model, prior to this simulation continuing as the UKESM1 CMIP6 preindustrial control (piControl). The realism of the fully coupled spin‐up was assessed for a range of ocean and land properties, as was the degree of equilibration for key variables. Lessons drawn include the importance of consistent interface physics across ocean‐ and land‐only models and the coupled (parent) model, the extreme simulation duration required to approach equilibration targets, and the occurrence of significant regional land carbon drifts despite global‐scale equilibration. Overall, the UKESM1 spin‐up underscores the expense involved and argues in favor of future development of more efficient spin‐up techniques.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Detailed Spin-up Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin‐up of UK Earth System Model 1 (UKESM1) for CMIP6

Yool

Palmiéri

Jones

et al. 2020

J Adv Model Earth Syst

Self Cite

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“…The time series data is calculated from the UKESM1 data by the BGC-val model evaluation suite (de Mora et al, 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earth System Music: the methodology and reach of music generated from the United Kingdom Earth System Model

Mora

Sellar

Yool

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Scientific data is almost always represented graphically either in figures or in videos. With the ever-growing interest from the general public towards understanding climate science, it is becoming increasingly important that we present this information in ways accessible to non-experts. In this pilot study, we use time series data from the first United Kingdom Earth System model (UKESM1) to create six procedurally generated musical pieces and use them to test whether we can use music to engage with the wider community. Each of these pieces is based around a unique part of UKESM1's ocean component model, either in terms of a scientific principle or a practical aspect of modelling. In addition, each piece is arranged using a different musical progression, style and tempo. These pieces were performed by the digital piano synthesizer, TiMidity++, and were published on the lead author's YouTube channel. The videos all show the time progression of the data in time with the music and a brief description of the methodology is posted below the video. To disseminate these works, a link to each piece was published on the lead authors personal and professional social media accounts. The reach of these works was analysed using YouTube's channel monitoring toolkit for content creators, YouTube studio. In the first ninety days after the first video was published, the six pieces reached at least 251 unique viewers, and have 553 total views. We found that most of the views occurred in the fourteen days immediately after each video was published. In effect, once the concept had been demonstrated to an audience, there was reduced enthusiasm from that audience to return to it immediately. This suggests that to use music effectively as an science outreach tool, the works needs to reach new audiences or new and unique content needs to be delivered to a returning audience.

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“…18 shows the vertical inventory of CFC-11, a conservative artificial tracer accumulating within the ocean similarly to anthropogenic CO 2 . Relatively straightforward to quantify to high precision, and without any natural background, this tracer serves as a loose proxy for anthropogenic CO 2 (Dutay et al, 2002;Doney et al, 2004). As such, it provides a second performance measure against which to compare the interior redistribution of surface anthropogenic CO 2 uptake.…”

Section: Surface Carbon Biogeochemistrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the physical and biogeochemical state of the global ocean component of UKESM1 in CMIP6 historical simulations

et al. 2021

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Abstract. The ocean plays a key role in modulating the climate of the Earth system (ES). At the present time it is also a major sink both for the carbon dioxide (CO2) released by human activities and for the excess heat driven by the resulting atmospheric greenhouse effect. Understanding the ocean's role in these processes is critical for model projections of future change and its potential impacts on human societies. A necessary first step in assessing the credibility of such future projections is an evaluation of their performance against the present state of the ocean. Here we use a range of observational fields to validate the physical and biogeochemical performance of the ocean component of UKESM1, a new Earth system model (ESM) for CMIP6 built upon the HadGEM3-GC3.1 physical climate model. Analysis focuses on the realism of the ocean's physical state and circulation, its key elemental cycles, and its marine productivity. UKESM1 generally performs well across a broad spectrum of properties, but it exhibits a number of notable biases. Physically, these include a global warm bias inherited from model spin-up, excess northern sea ice but insufficient southern sea ice and sluggish interior circulation. Biogeochemical biases found include shallow remineralization of sinking organic matter, excessive iron stress in regions such as the equatorial Pacific, and generally lower surface alkalinity that results in decreased surface and interior dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. The mechanisms driving these biases are explored to identify consequences for the behaviour of UKESM1 under future climate change scenarios and avenues for model improvement. Finally, across key biogeochemical properties, UKESM1 improves in performance relative to its CMIP5 precursor and performs well alongside its fellow members of the CMIP6 ensemble.

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BGC-val: a model- and grid-independent Python toolkit to evaluate marine biogeochemical models

Cited by 6 publications

References 52 publications

Spin‐up of UK Earth System Model 1 (UKESM1) for CMIP6

Spin‐up of UK Earth System Model 1 (UKESM1) for CMIP6

Earth System Music: the methodology and reach of music generated from the United Kingdom Earth System Model

Evaluating the physical and biogeochemical state of the global ocean component of UKESM1 in CMIP6 historical simulations

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