scholarly journals The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project (ScenarioMIP) for CMIP6

Author(s):  
Brian C. O'Neill ◽  
Claudia Tebaldi ◽  
Detlef van Vuuren ◽  
Veronika Eyring ◽  
Pierre Friedlingstein ◽  
...  

Abstract. Projections of future climate change play a fundamental role in improving understanding of the climate system as well as characterizing societal risks and response options. The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project (ScenarioMIP) is the primary activity within Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projection (CMIP6) that that will provide multi-model climate projections based on alternative scenarios of future emissions and land-use changes produced with integrated assessment models. In this paper, we describe ScenarioMIP’s objectives, experimental design, and its relation to other activities within CMIP6. The ScenarioMIP design is one component of a larger scenario process that aims to facilitate a wide range of integrated studies across the climate science, integrated assessment modelling, and impacts, adaptation and vulnerability communities, and will form an important part of the evidence base in the next IPCC assessment. At the same time, it will provide the basis for investigating a number of targeted scientific questions that are especially relevant to scenario-based analysis, including the role of specific forcings such as land use and aerosols, the effect of a peak and decline in forcing, the relative contributions to uncertainty from scenarios, climate models, and internal variability, and long-term climate system outcomes beyond the 21st century. To serve this wide range of scientific communities and address these questions, a design has been identified consisting of eight alternative 21st century scenarios plus one large initial condition ensemble and a set of long-term extensions, divided into two tiers defined by relative priority. Some of these scenarios will also provide a basis for variants planned to be run in other CMIP6-endorsed MIPs to investigate questions related to specific forcings. Harmonized, spatially explicit emissions and land-use scenarios generated with integrated assessment models will be provided to participating climate modeling groups by late 2016, with climate model projections expected to be available within the 2018–2020 time frame.

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 3461-3482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian C. O'Neill ◽  
Claudia Tebaldi ◽  
Detlef P. van Vuuren ◽  
Veronika Eyring ◽  
Pierre Friedlingstein ◽  
...  

Abstract. Projections of future climate change play a fundamental role in improving understanding of the climate system as well as characterizing societal risks and response options. The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project (ScenarioMIP) is the primary activity within Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) that will provide multi-model climate projections based on alternative scenarios of future emissions and land use changes produced with integrated assessment models. In this paper, we describe ScenarioMIP's objectives, experimental design, and its relation to other activities within CMIP6. The ScenarioMIP design is one component of a larger scenario process that aims to facilitate a wide range of integrated studies across the climate science, integrated assessment modeling, and impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability communities, and will form an important part of the evidence base in the forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. At the same time, it will provide the basis for investigating a number of targeted science and policy questions that are especially relevant to scenario-based analysis, including the role of specific forcings such as land use and aerosols, the effect of a peak and decline in forcing, the consequences of scenarios that limit warming to below 2 °C, the relative contributions to uncertainty from scenarios, climate models, and internal variability, and long-term climate system outcomes beyond the 21st century. To serve this wide range of scientific communities and address these questions, a design has been identified consisting of eight alternative 21st century scenarios plus one large initial condition ensemble and a set of long-term extensions, divided into two tiers defined by relative priority. Some of these scenarios will also provide a basis for variants planned to be run in other CMIP6-Endorsed MIPs to investigate questions related to specific forcings. Harmonized, spatially explicit emissions and land use scenarios generated with integrated assessment models will be provided to participating climate modeling groups by late 2016, with the climate model simulations run within the 2017–2018 time frame, and output from the climate model projections made available and analyses performed over the 2018–2020 period.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Christopher Chambers ◽  
Ralf Greve ◽  
Takashi Obase ◽  
Fuyuki Saito ◽  
Ayako Abe-Ouchi

Abstract Ice-sheet simulations of Antarctica extending to the year 3000 are analysed to investigate the long-term impacts of 21st-century warming. Climate projections are used as forcing until 2100 and afterwards no climate trend is applied. Fourteen experiments are for the ‘unabated warming’ pathway, and three are for the ‘reduced emissions’ pathway. For the unabated warming path simulations, West Antarctica suffers a much more severe ice loss than East Antarctica. In these cases, the mass loss amounts to an ensemble average of ~3.5 m sea-level equivalent (SLE) by the year 3000 and ~5.3 m for the most sensitive experiment. Four phases of mass loss occur during the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. For the reduced emissions pathway, the mean mass loss is ~0.24 m SLE. By demonstrating that the consequences of the 21st century unabated warming path forcing are large and long term, the results present a different perspective to ISMIP6 (Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6). Extended ABUMIP (Antarctic BUttressing Model Intercomparison Project) simulations, assuming sudden and sustained ice-shelf collapse, with and without bedrock rebound, corroborate a negative feedback for ice loss found in previous studies, where bedrock rebound acts to slow the rate of ice loss.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Chambers ◽  
Ralf Greve ◽  
Takashi Obase ◽  
Fuyuki Saito ◽  
Ayako Abe-Ouchi

Ice-sheet simulations of Antarctica extending to the year 3000 are analysed to investigate the long-term impacts of 21st century warming. Climate projections are used as forcing until 2100 and afterwards no climate trend is applied. Fourteen experiments are for the “unabated warming” pathway, and three are for the “reduced emissions” pathway. For the unabated warming path simulations, West Antarctica suffers a much more severe ice loss than East Antarctica. In these cases, the mass loss amounts to a 14 experiment average of ∽3.5 m sea-level equivalent by the year 3000 and ∽5.3 m for the most sensitive experiment. Four phases of mass loss occur during the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. For the reduced emissions pathway, the mean mass loss is ∽0.24 m sea-level equivalent. By demonstrating that the consequences of the 21st century unabated warming path forcing are large and long-term, the results present a different perspective to ISMIP6 (Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6). Extended ABUMIP (Antarctic BUttressing Model Intercomparison Project)simulations, assuming sudden and sustained ice-shelf collapse, with and without bedrock rebound corroborate a negative feedback for ice loss found in previous studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 166 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Wilson ◽  
Céline Guivarch ◽  
Elmar Kriegler ◽  
Bas van Ruijven ◽  
Detlef P. van Vuuren ◽  
...  

AbstractProcess-based integrated assessment models (IAMs) project long-term transformation pathways in energy and land-use systems under what-if assumptions. IAM evaluation is necessary to improve the models’ usefulness as scientific tools applicable in the complex and contested domain of climate change mitigation. We contribute the first comprehensive synthesis of process-based IAM evaluation research, drawing on a wide range of examples across six different evaluation methods including historical simulations, stylised facts, and model diagnostics. For each evaluation method, we identify progress and milestones to date, and draw out lessons learnt as well as challenges remaining. We find that each evaluation method has distinctive strengths, as well as constraints on its application. We use these insights to propose a systematic evaluation framework combining multiple methods to establish the appropriateness, interpretability, credibility, and relevance of process-based IAMs as useful scientific tools for informing climate policy. We also set out a programme of evaluation research to be mainstreamed both within and outside the IAM community.


Author(s):  
Shuwen Zhao ◽  
Yongqiang Yu ◽  
Pengfei Lin ◽  
Hailong Liu ◽  
Bian He ◽  
...  

AbstractThe datasets for the tier-1 Scenario Model Intercomparison Project (ScenarioMIP) experiments from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, finite-volume version 3 (CAS FGOALS-f3-L) are described in this study. ScenarioMIP is one of the core MIP experiments in phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). Considering future CO2, CH4, N2O and other gases’ concentrations, as well as land use, the design of ScenarioMIP involves eight pathways, including two tiers (tier-1 and tier-2) of priority. Tier-1 includes four combined Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) with radiative forcing, i.e., SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5, in which the globally averaged radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere around the year 2100 is approximately 2.6, 4.5, 7.0 and 8.5 W m−2, respectively. This study provides an introduction to the ScenarioMIP datasets of this model, such as their storage location, sizes, variables, etc. Preliminary analysis indicates that surface air temperatures will increase by about 1.89°C, 3.07°C, 4.06°C and 5.17°C by around 2100 under these four scenarios, respectively. Meanwhile, some other key climate variables, such as sea-ice extension, precipitation, heat content, and sea level rise, also show significant long-term trends associated with the radiative forcing increases. These datasets will help us understand how the climate will change under different anthropogenic and radiative forcings.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stainforth ◽  
Raphael Calel ◽  
Sandra Chapman ◽  
Nicholas Watkins

<p>Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are widely used to evaluate the economic costs of climate change, the social cost of carbon and the value of mitigation policies. These IAMs include simple energy balance models (EBMs) to represent the physical climate system and to calculate the timeseries of global mean temperature in response to changing radiative forcing[1]. The EBMs are deterministic in nature which leads to smoothly varying GMT trajectories so for simple monotonically increasing forcing scenarios (e.g. representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 8.5, 6.0 and 4.5) the GMT trajectories are also monotonically increasing. By contrast real world, and global-climate-model-derived, timeseries show substantial inter-annual and inter-decadal variability. Here we present an analysis of the implications of this intrinsic variability for the economic consequences of climate change.</p><p>We use a simple stochastic EBM to generate large ensembles of GMT trajectories under each of the RCP forcing scenarios. The damages implied by each trajectory are calculated using the Weitzman damage function. This provides a conditional estimate of the unavoidable uncertainty in implied damages. It turns out to be large and positively skewed due to the shape of the damage function. Under RCP2.6 we calculate a 5-95% range of -30% to +52% of the deterministic value; -13% to +16% under RCP 8.5. The risk premia associated with such unavoidable uncertainty are also significant. Under our economic assumptions a social planner would be willing to pay 32 trillion dollars to avoid just the intrinsic uncertainty in RCP8.5. This figure rises further when allowance is made for epistemic uncertainty in relation to climate sensitivity. We conclude that appropriate representation of stochastic variability in the climate system is important to include in future economic assessments of climate change.</p><p><br>[1] Calel, R. and Stainforth D.A., “On the Physics of Three Integrated Assessment Models”, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2017.</p><p> </p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 925-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katinka Bellomo ◽  
Amy C. Clement ◽  
Joel R. Norris ◽  
Brian J. Soden

AbstractConstraining intermodel spread in cloud feedback with observations is problematic because available cloud datasets are affected by spurious behavior in long-term variability. This problem is addressed by examining cloud amount in three independent ship-based [Extended Edited Cloud Reports Archive (EECRA)] and satellite-based [International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Pathfinder Atmosphere–Extended (PATMOS-X)] observational datasets, and models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The three observational datasets show consistent cloud variability in the overlapping years of coverage (1984–2007). The long-term cloud amount change from 1954 to 2005 in ship-based observations shares many of the same features with the multimodel mean cloud amount change of 42 CMIP5 historical simulations, although the magnitude of the multimodel mean is smaller. The radiative impact of cloud changes is estimated by computing an observationally derived estimate of cloud amount feedback. The observational estimates of cloud amount feedback are statistically significant over four regions: the northeast Pacific subtropical stratocumulus region and equatorial western Pacific, where cloud amount feedback is found to be positive, and the southern central Pacific and western Indian Ocean, where cloud amount feedback is found to be negative. Multimodel mean cloud amount feedback is consistent in sign but smaller in magnitude than in observations over these four regions because models simulate weaker cloud changes. Individual models, however, can simulate cloud amount feedback of the same magnitude if not larger than observed. Focusing on the regions where models and observations agree can lead to improved understanding of the mechanisms of cloud amount changes and associated radiative impact.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane Waliser ◽  
Peter J. Gleckler ◽  
Robert Ferraro ◽  
Karl E. Taylor ◽  
Sasha Ames ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Observations for Model Intercomparison Projects (Obs4MIPs) was initiated in 2010 to facilitate the use of observations in climate model evaluation and research, with a particular target being the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), a major initiative of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). To this end, Obs4MIPs: 1) targets observed variables that can be compared to CMIP model variables, 2) utilizes dataset formatting specifications and metadata requirements closely aligned with CMIP model output, 3) provides brief technical documentation for each dataset, designed for non-experts and tailored towards relevance for model evaluation, including information on uncertainty, dataset merits and limitations, and 4) disseminates the data through the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) platforms, making the observations searchable and accessible via the same portals as the model output. Taken together, these characteristics of the organization and structure of obs4MIPs should entice a more diverse community of researchers to engage in the comparison of model output with observations and to contribute to a more comprehensive evaluation of the climate models. At present, the number of obs4MIPs datasets has grown to about 80, many undergoing updates, with another 20 or so in preparation, and more than 100 proposed and under consideration. Current global satellite-based datasets include, but are not limited to, humidity and temperature profiles; a wide range of cloud and aerosol observations; ocean surface wind, temperature, height, and sea ice fraction; surface and top of atmosphere longwave and shortwave radiation; along with ozone (O3), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) products. Proposed products expected for inclusion for CMIP6 analysis include, but are not limited to, alternative products for the above quantities, along with additional products for ocean surface flux and chlorophyll products, a number of vegetation products (e.g. FAPAR, LAI, burnt area fraction), ice sheet mass and height, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). While most obs4MIPs datasets are delivered as monthly and global, greater emphasis is being places on products with higher time resolution (e.g. daily) and/or regional products. Along with an increasing number of datasets, obs4MIPs has implemented a number of capability upgrades including: 1) an updated obs4MIPs data specifications document that provides for additional search facets and generally improves congruence with CMIP6 specifications for model datasets, 2) a set of six easily understood indicators that help guide users as to a dataset’s maturity and suitability for application, and 3) an option to supply supplemental information about a dataset beyond what can be found in the standard metadata. With the maturation of the obs4MIPs framework, the dataset inclusion process, and the dataset formatting guidelines and resources, the scope of the observations being considered is expected to grow to include gridded in-situ datasets as well as datasets with a regional focus, and the ultimate intent is to judiciously expand this scope to any observation dataset that has applicability for evaluation of the types of Earth System models used in CMIP.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2973-2998 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lawrence ◽  
George C. Hurtt ◽  
Almut Arneth ◽  
Victor Brovkin ◽  
Kate V. Calvin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the Earth's surface, with resulting implications for climate. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) aims to further advance understanding of the impacts of land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) on climate, specifically addressing the following questions. (1) What are the effects of LULCC on climate and biogeochemical cycling (past–future)? (2) What are the impacts of land management on surface fluxes of carbon, water, and energy, and are there regional land-management strategies with the promise to help mitigate climate change? In addressing these questions, LUMIP will also address a range of more detailed science questions to get at process-level attribution, uncertainty, data requirements, and other related issues in more depth and sophistication than possible in a multi-model context to date. There will be particular focus on the separation and quantification of the effects on climate from LULCC relative to all forcings, separation of biogeochemical from biogeophysical effects of land use, the unique impacts of land-cover change vs. land-management change, modulation of land-use impact on climate by land–atmosphere coupling strength, and the extent to which impacts of enhanced CO2 concentrations on plant photosynthesis are modulated by past and future land use.LUMIP involves three major sets of science activities: (1) development of an updated and expanded historical and future land-use data set, (2) an experimental protocol for specific LUMIP experiments for CMIP6, and (3) definition of metrics and diagnostic protocols that quantify model performance, and related sensitivities, with respect to LULCC. In this paper, we describe LUMIP activity (2), i.e., the LUMIP simulations that will formally be part of CMIP6. These experiments are explicitly designed to be complementary to simulations requested in the CMIP6 DECK and historical simulations and other CMIP6 MIPs including ScenarioMIP, C4MIP, LS3MIP, and DAMIP. LUMIP includes a two-phase experimental design. Phase one features idealized coupled and land-only model simulations designed to advance process-level understanding of LULCC impacts on climate, as well as to quantify model sensitivity to potential land-cover and land-use change. Phase two experiments focus on quantification of the historic impact of land use and the potential for future land management decisions to aid in mitigation of climate change. This paper documents these simulations in detail, explains their rationale, outlines plans for analysis, and describes a new subgrid land-use tile data request for selected variables (reporting model output data separately for primary and secondary land, crops, pasture, and urban land-use types). It is essential that modeling groups participating in LUMIP adhere to the experimental design as closely as possible and clearly report how the model experiments were executed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Greve ◽  
Christopher Chambers ◽  
Reinhard Calov ◽  
Takashi Obase ◽  
Fuyuki Saito ◽  
...  

<p>The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) is a major international climate modelling initiative. As part of it, the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6) was devised to assess the likely sea-level-rise contribution from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets until the year 2100. This was achieved by defining a set of future climate scenarios by evaluating results of CMIP5 and CMIP6 global climate models (GCMs, including MIROC) over and surrounding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. These scenarios were used as forcings for a variety of ice-sheet models operated by different working groups worldwide (Goelzer et al. 2020, doi: 10.5194/tc-14-3071-2020; Seroussi et al. 2020, doi: 10.5194/tc-14-3033-2020).</p><p>Here, we use the model SICOPOLIS to carry out extended versions of the ISMIP6 future climate experiments for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets until the year 3000. For the atmospheric forcing (anomalies of surface mass balance and temperature) beyond 2100, we sample randomly the ten-year interval 2091-2100, while the oceanic forcing beyond 2100 is kept fixed at 2100 conditions. We conduct experiments for the pessimistic, "business as usual" pathway RCP8.5 (CMIP5) / SSP5-8.5 (CMIP6), and for the optimistic RCP2.6 (CMIP5) / SSP1-2.6 (CMIP6) pathway that represents substantial emissions reductions. For the unforced, constant-climate control runs, both ice sheets are stable until the year 3000. For RCP8.5/SSP5-8.5, they suffer massive mass losses: For Greenland, ~1.7 m SLE (sea-level equivalent) for the 12-experiment mean, and ~3.5 m SLE for the most sensitive experiment. For Antarctica, ~3.3 m SLE for the 14-experiment mean, and ~5.3 m SLE for the most sensitive experiment. For RCP2.6/SSP1-2.6, the mass losses are limited to a two-experiment mean of ~0.26 m SLE for Greenland, and a three-experiment mean of ~0.25 m SLE for Antarctica. Climate-change mitigation during the next decades will therefore be an efficient means for limiting the contribution of the ice sheets to sea-level rise in the long term.</p>


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