The DOE E3SM Model Version 2: Overview of the Physical Model and Initial Model Evaluation

Jean Christophe Golaz, Luke P. Van Roekel, Xue Zheng, Andrew F. Roberts, Jonathan D. Wolfe, Wuyin Lin, Andrew M. Bradley, Qi Tang, Mathew E. Maltrud, Ryan M. Forsyth, Chengzhu Zhang, Tian Zhou, Kai Zhang, Charles S. Zender, Mingxuan Wu, Hailong Wang, Adrian K. Turner, Balwinder Singh, Jadwiga H. Richter, Yi QinMark R. Petersen, Azamat Mametjanov, Po Lun Ma, Vincent E. Larson, Jayesh Krishna, Noel D. Keen, Nicole Jeffery, Elizabeth C. Hunke, Walter M. Hannah, Oksana Guba, Brian M. Griffin, Yan Feng, Darren Engwirda, Alan V. Di Vittorio, Cheng Dang, Le Ann M. Conlon, Chih Chieh Jack Chen, Michael A. Brunke, Gautam Bisht, James J. Benedict, Xylar S. Asay-Davis, Yuying Zhang, Meng Zhang, Xubin Zeng, Shaocheng Xie, Phillip J. Wolfram, Tom Vo, Milena Veneziani, Teklu K. Tesfa, Sarat Sreepathi, Andrew G. Salinger, J. E.Jack Reeves Eyre, Michael J. Prather, Salil Mahajan, Qing Li, Philip W. Jones, Robert L. Jacob, Gunther W. Huebler, Xianglei Huang, Benjamin R. Hillman, Bryce E. Harrop, James G. Foucar, Yilin Fang, Darin S. Comeau, Peter M. Caldwell, Tony Bartoletti, Karthik Balaguru, Mark A. Taylor, Renata B. McCoy, L. Ruby Leung, David C. Bader

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

93 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work documents version two of the Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). E3SMv2 is a significant evolution from its predecessor E3SMv1, resulting in a model that is nearly twice as fast and with a simulated climate that is improved in many metrics. We describe the physical climate model in its lower horizontal resolution configuration consisting of 110 km atmosphere, 165 km land, 0.5° river routing model, and an ocean and sea ice with mesh spacing varying between 60 km in the mid-latitudes and 30 km at the equator and poles. The model performance is evaluated with Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Characterization of Klima simulations augmented with historical simulations as well as simulations to evaluate impacts of different forcing agents. The simulated climate has many realistic features of the climate system, with notable improvements in clouds and precipitation compared to E3SMv1. E3SMv1 suffered from an excessively high equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of 5.3 K. In E3SMv2, ECS is reduced to 4.0 K which is now within the plausible range based on a recent World Climate Research Program assessment. However, a number of important biases remain including a weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, deficiencies in the characteristics and spectral distribution of tropical atmospheric variability, and a significant underestimation of the observed warming in the second half of the historical period. An analysis of single-forcing simulations indicates that correcting the historical temperature bias would require a substantial reduction in the magnitude of the aerosol-related forcing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere2022MS003156
JournalJournal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Volume14
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • DOE E3SM
  • climate modeling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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