CLIMBER-2: A climate system model of intermediate complexity. Part I: Model description and performance for present climate
V. Petoukhov, A. Ganopolski, V. Brovkin, M. Claussen, A. Eliseev, C. Kubatzki, S. Rahmstorf (February 1998)
A 2.5-dimensional climate system model of intermediate complexity CLIMBER-2 and its performance for present climate conditions are presented. The model consists of modules describing atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, land surface processes, terrestrial vegetation cover, and global carbon cycle. The modules interact (on-line) through the fluxes of momentum, energy, water and carbon. The model has a coarse spatial resolution, allowing nevertheless to capture the major features of the Earth's geography. The model describes temporal variability of the system on seasonal and longer time scales. Due to the fact that the model does not employ any type of flux adjustment and has fast turnaround time, it can be used for study of climates significantly different from the present one and allows to perform long-term (multimillennia) simulations. The constraints for coupling the atmosphere and ocean without flux adjustment are discussed. The results of a model validation against present climate data show that the model successfully describes the seasonal variability of a large set of characteristics of the climate system, including radiative balance, temperature, precipitation, ocean circulation and cryosphere.
