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Global Climate Model Details:

For the purposes of making future projections of climate over the mid-Atlantic region, seven global climate models were selected. These models, listed below, were selected from among many that are used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) based on the availability of model output. Below the list you will find a table that provides scientific details and references to complete information about the models.

 

MODEL NAME CENTRE REFERENCE ATMOSPHERIC RESOLUTION OCEAN RESOLUTION LAND SURFACE SEA ICE FLUX ADJUST
CCCM CCCma Flato and Boer, 2001 T32 (3.8 x 3.8) L10 1.8 x 1.8 L29 M,BB T,R H,W
CSIR CSIRO Gordon and O’Farrell, 1997 R21 (3.2 x 5.6) L9 3.2 x 5.6 L21 C T,R H,W,M
ECHM DKRZ Roeckner et al., 1996 T42 (2.8 x 2.8) L19 2.8 x 2.8 L11* C T,R H,W(*)
GFDL GFDL Knutson et al., 1999 R30 (2.25 x 3.75) L14 1.875 x 2.25 L18 B T,F H,W
HDCM HADC Gordon et al., 2000 2.5 x 3.75 L19 1.25 x 1.25 L20 C T,F -
NCAR NCAR Washington et al., 2000 T42 (2.8 x 2.8) L18 0.67 x 0.67 L32 C T,R -
CCSR CCSR/NIES Nozawa et al., 2000 T21 (5.6 x 5.6) L20 2.8 x 3.8 L17 M,BB T H,W

Atmospheric resolution: Horizontal and vertical resolution. The former is expressed either as degrees latitude x longitude or as a spectral truncation with a rough translation to degrees latitude x longitude. An asterisk indicates enhanced meridional resolution in midlatitudes. Vertical resolution is expressed as Lmm, where mm is the number of vertical levels.
Ocean resolution: Horizontal and vertical resolution. The former is expressed as degrees latitude x longitude, while the latter is expressed as Lmm, where mm is the number of vertical levels. An asterisk indicates enhanced horizontal resolution near the Equator.
Land surface scheme: B = standard bucket hydrology scheme; BB = modified bucket scheme with spatially varying soil moisture capacity and/or a surface resistance; M = multi-layer temperature scheme; C = a complex land surface scheme usually including multi-soil layers for temperature and soil moisture, and an explicit representation of canopy processes.
Sea ice model: T = thermodynamic ice model only; F = free drift dynamics; R = ice rheology included; (d) = ice extent/thickness determined diagnostically from ocean surface temperature; (p) = ice extent prescribed.
Flux adjustment: H = heat flux; W = fresh water flux; M = momentum flux. An asterisk indicates annual mean flux adjustment only.

Adapted from:
McAvaney, B.J., C. Covey, S. Joussaume, V. Kattsov, A. Kitoh, W. Ogana, A.J. Pitman, A.J. Weaver, R.A. Wood, and Z.-C. Zhao. Model evaluation.  In: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Houghton, J.T.,Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, and C.A. Johnson (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 881pp.

References:
Flato, G.M. and G.J. Boer, 2001: Warming Asymmetry in Climate Change Experiments. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 195-198.
Gordon, H.B. and S.P. O’Farrell, 1997: Transient climate change in the CSIRO coupled model with dynamic sea ice. Mon. Wea. Rev., 125, 875-907.
Roeckner, E., J.M. Oberhuber, A. Bacher, M. Christoph and I. Kirchner, 1996: ENSO variability and atmospheric response in a global coupled atmosphere-ocean GCM. Clim. Dyn., 12, 737-754.
Knutson, T.R., T.L. Delworh, K.W. Dixon and R.J. Stouffer, 1999: Model assessment of regional surface temperature trends (1949-1997). J. Geophys. Res., 104, 30981-30996.
Gordon, C., C. Cooper, C.A. Senior, H.T. Banks, J.M. Gregory, T.C. Johns, J.F.B. Mitchell and R.A. Wood, 2000: The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in a version of the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Clim. Dyn., 16, 147-168.
Washington, W.M. and 10 others, 2000: Parallel Climate Model (PCM): Control and Transient simulations. Clim. Dyn., 16, 755-774.
Nozawa, T., S. Emori, T. Takemura, T. Nakajima, A. Numaguti, A. Abe-Ouchi and M. Kimoto, 2000: Coupled ocean-atmosphere model experiments of future climate change based on IPCC SRES scenarios. Preprints of the 11th Symposium on Global Change Studies, 9-14 January 2000, Long Beach, USA, 352-355.