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- The Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling Project
During the past decade, Los Alamos has developed a strong program in numerical modeling of the oceans and sea ice, with special emphasis on high-performance computing. Our principal mission, first in the Department of Energy (DOE) Computer Hardware, Advanced Mathematics and Model Physics (CHAMMP) program and now in the Climate Change Prediction Program (CCPP), has been development and validation of ocean and sea ice models and their application as components of fully coupled climate models. We also do research in areas that support the central mission. These research and development activities are described more fully in the descriptions and links below, but our primary goals are to:
* Develop, validate and optimize the Parallel Ocean Program (POP), including improvements in the formulation of the model equations, parameterizations of physical processes, numerical methods, and portability and performance optimization on a range of computer architectures.
* Develop, validate and optimize the Community Ice CodE (CICE), including the efficient and accurate solution of the ice dynamics equations, improvements in the sea ice thermodynamics and thickness distribution and implementation of new or improved parameterizations.
* Complete development of hybrid-coordinate versions of POP (HYPOP) and evaluate hybrid vertical coordinate approaches against other alternative approaches.
* Develop and apply ice sheet models, with a focus on improved numerical methods and coupled climate applications.
* Add biogeochemical processes to ocean models, focusing on trace gases like dimethyl sulfide (DMS)
* Apply the models to problems of scientific interest. Of particular interest are effects of mesoscale eddies on ocean circulation and climate (using eddy-resolving ocean simulations), examination of polar processes and the study of ocean thermohaline circulation and its variability.
* Evaluate our models as components of coupled climate models. This will continue to be done in the context of active partnerships, particularly the Community Climate System Model (CCSM).
* Pursue basic research on new or improved formulations of ocean and sea ice model equations, process parameterizations, numerical solution techniques and algorithms.
Each facet of our work contributes to the overall goal of improving our ocean and sea-ice models as stand-alone models and as components of coupled climate models. While our emphasis is on model development, much scientific research comes out of the validation studies and other applications of the models, particularly the eddy-resolving simulations. This provides a balance between research and development in which the findings from model validation and application studies provide guidance for model improvements.
Summary provided by http://climate.lanl.gov/
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