Enhancing winter climate simulations of the Great Lakes:   insights from a new coupled lake–ice–atmosphere (CLIAv1)  system on the importance of integrating 3D hydrodynamics  with a regional climate model

Xue, Pengfei; Huang, Chenfu; Zhong, Yafang; Notaro, Michael; Kayastha, Miraj B.; Zhou, Xing; Zhao, Chuyan; Peters-Lidard, Christa; Cruz, Carlos; Kemp, Eric

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4293-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 13

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4293-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4293-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 13

Model description paper

|

16 Jul 2025

Model description paper |

| 16 Jul 2025

Enhancing winter climate simulations of the Great Lakes: insights from a new coupled lake–ice–atmosphere (CLIAv1) system on the importance of integrating 3D hydrodynamics with a regional climate model

Pengfei Xue, Chenfu Huang, Yafang Zhong, Michael Notaro, Miraj B. Kayastha, Xing Zhou, Chuyan Zhao, Christa Peters-Lidard, Carlos Cruz, and Eric Kemp

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4293-2025-supplement

Data sets

Sea surface temperature (SST) from Great Lakes Surface Environmental Analysis (GLSEA), geodetic coordinate system (LAT, LON), 1995-2023 CoastWatch Great Lakes Node https://apps.glerl.noaa.gov/erddap/files/GLSEA_GCS/

Ice concentration from Great Lakes Surface Environmental Analysis (GLSEA) and NIC, geodetic coordinate system (LAT, LON), 1995-present CoastWatch Great Lakes Node https://apps.glerl.noaa.gov/erddap/files/GL_Ice_Concentration_GCS/

Model code and software

Lake model code for the manuscript "On the Importance of Coupling a 3D Hydrodynamic Model with a Regional Climate Model in Simulating the Great Lakes Winter Climate" Chenfu Huang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12746348

NU-WRF (v11) code for the manuscript "On the Importance of Coupling a 3D Hydrodynamic Model with a Regional Climate Model in Simulating the Great Lakes Winter Climate" Chenfu Huang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12746306

Short summary

This study introduces a new 3D lake–ice–atmosphere coupled model that significantly improves winter climate simulations for the Great Lakes compared to traditional 1D lake model coupling. The key contribution is the identification of critical hydrodynamic processes – ice transport, heat advection, and shear-driven turbulence production – that influence lake thermal structure and ice cover and explain the superior performance of 3D lake models to their 1D counterparts.