We develop a demographic vegetation model to improve the representation of terrestrial vegetation dynamics and ecosystem biogeochemical cycles in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE. The individual-based competition for light and soil resources makes the modeling of eco-evolutionary optimality possible. This model will enable ModelE to simulate long-term biogeophysical and biogeochemical feedbacks between the climate system and land ecosystems at decadal to centurial temporal scales.

This study advances mineral dust parameterizations in the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM; version 6.1). Efforts include 1) incorporating a more physically based dust emission scheme; 2) updating the dry deposition scheme; and 3) revising the gravitational settling velocity to account for dust asphericity. Substantial improvements achieved with these updates can help accurately quantify dust–climate interactions using CAM, such as the dust-radiation and dust–cloud interactions.

Solar climate intervention using stratospheric aerosol injection is a proposed method of reducing global mean temperatures to reduce the worst consequences of climate change. We present a new modeling protocol aimed at simulating a plausible deployment of stratospheric aerosol injection and reproducibility of simulations using other Earth system models: Assessing Responses and Impacts of Solar climate intervention on the Earth system with stratospheric aerosol injection (ARISE-SAI).

Increasing model resolution depends on the subdomain of the Canary upwelling considered. In the Iberian Peninsula, the high-resolution (HR) models do not seem to better simulate the upwelling indices, while in Morocco to the Senegalese coast, the HR models show a clear improvement. Thus increasing the resolution of a global climate model does not necessarily have to be the only way to better represent the climate system. There is still much work to be done in terms of physical parameterizations.

We describe the development of the first large-scale ice sheet model that accounts for stochasticity in a range of processes. Stochasticity allows the impacts of inherently uncertain processes on ice sheets to be represented. This includes climatic uncertainty, as the climate is inherently chaotic. Furthermore, stochastic capabilities also encompass poorly constrained glaciological processes that display strong variability at fine spatiotemporal scales. We present the model and test experiments.

In light of recent global warming, we aim to improve methods for modeling greenhouse gas emissions in order to support the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement. In this study, we investigate certain aspects of a Bayesian inversion method that uses computer simulations and atmospheric observations to improve estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. We explore method limitations, discuss problems, and suggest improvements.

Data assimilation plays an important part in numerical weather prediction (NWP) in terms of combining forecasted states and observations. While data assimilation methods in NWP usually assume the Gaussian error distribution, some variables in the atmosphere, such as precipitation, are known to have non-Gaussian error statistics. This study extended a widely used ensemble data assimilation algorithm to enable the assimilation of more non-Gaussian observations.

We develop a simple 1-D model for the prediction of the vertical temperature profiles in small, warm lakes. The model uses routinely measured meteorological variables as well as UVB radiation and yearly mean temperature data. It can be used for the assessment of the onset and duration of lake stratification periods when water temperature data are unavailable, which can be useful for various lake studies performed in other scientific fields, such as biology, geochemistry, and sedimentology.

Soil microbes process soil organic matter and affect carbon storage and plant nutrition at the ecosystem scale. We hypothesized that decadal dynamics is constrained by the ratios of elements in litter inputs, microbes, and matter and that microbial community optimizes growth. This allowed the SESAM model to descibe decadal-term carbon sequestration in soils and other biogeochemical processes explicitly accounting for microbial processes but without its problematic fine-scale parameterization.

We develop an ensemble-Kalman-filter-based regional ocean data assimilation system in which satellite and in situ observations are assimilated at a daily frequency. We find the best setting for dynamical balance and accuracy based on sensitivity experiments focused on how to inflate the ensemble spread and how to apply the analysis update to the model evolution. This study has a broader impact on more general data assimilation systems in which the initial shocks are a significant issue.

We present a global fire emission model based on the GFED model framework with a spatial resolution of 500 m. The higher resolution allowed for a more detailed representation of spatial heterogeneity in fuels and emissions. Specific modules were developed to model, for example, emissions from fire-related forest loss and belowground burning. Results from the 500 m model were compared to GFED4s, showing that global emissions were relatively similar but that spatial differences were substantial.

This study developed a novel deep-learning layer, the broadcasting layer, to build an end-to-end LSTM-based deep-learning model for regional air pollution forecast. By combining the ground observation, WRF-CMAQ simulation, and the broadcasting LSTM deep-learning model, forecast accuracy has been significantly improved when compared to other methods. The broadcasting layer and its variants can also be applied in other research areas to supersede the traditional numerical interpolation methods.

Crop phenology and irrigation is implemented into a land surface model able to work at a global scale. A case study is presented over Nebraska (USA). Simulations with and without the new scheme are compared to different satellite-based observations. The model is able to produce a realistic yearly irrigation water amount. The irrigation scheme improves the simulated leaf area index, gross primary productivity, evapotransipiration, and land surface temperature.

Marine ecosystem models are usually constrained by the elements nitrogen and phosphorus and consider carbon in organic matter in a fixed ratio. Recent observations show a substantial deviation from the simulated carbon cycle variables. In this study, we present a marine ecosystem model for the Baltic Sea which allows for a flexible uptake ratio for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. With this extension, the model reflects much more reasonable variables of the marine carbon cycle.

The land surface model (LSM) contains various uncertain parameters, which are obtained by the empirical relations reflecting the specific local region and can be a source of uncertainty. To seek the optimal parameter values in the snow-related processes of the Noah LSM over South Korea, we have implemented an optimization algorithm, a micro-genetic algorithm using the observations. As a result, the optimized snow parameters improve snowfall prediction.

A lightning assimilation (LTA) technique implemented in the WRF model's Kain–Fritsch (KF) convective scheme is updated and applied to simulations from regional to hemispheric scales using observed lightning flashes from ground-based lightning detection networks. Different user-toggled options associated with the KF scheme on simulations with and without LTA are assessed. The model's performance is improved significantly by LTA, but it is sensitive to various factors.

The versions of ICON-A and ICON-Land/JSBACHv4 used for this study constitute the first milestone in the development of the new ICON Earth System Model ICON-ESM. JSBACHv4 is the successor of JSBACHv3, and most of the parameterizations of JSBACHv4 are re-implementations from JSBACHv3. We assess and compare the performance of JSBACHv4 and JSBACHv3. Overall, the JSBACHv4 results are as good as JSBACHv3, but both models reveal the same main shortcomings, e.g. the depiction of the leaf area index.

Comparisons of oceanographic climate data from different models often suffer from different model setups, forcing fields, and output of variables. This paper provides a protocol to harmonize these elements to set up multidecadal simulations for the Baltic Sea, a marginal sea in Europe. First results are shown from six different model simulations from four different model platforms. Topical studies for upwelling, marine heat waves, and stratification are also assessed.