Meteorological and ocean models used in Atmacs

A brief description of the current operational weather and ocean models used in Atmacs is provided in this section. Meteorological models previously used in Atmacs (regional models and early versions of ICON) are described below.

GME mesh

Global atmospheric model ICON 384 (since 2015-02-23)

The Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model is a global model provided by the German Weather Service (DWD). The current version of ICON is based on a triangular grid with an average spacing of 13 km and it vertically extends over 120 layers up to 75 km.

Surface air pressure and air density at all layers is provided on a daily basis and a temporal resolution of 3 hours.

Reference:
Zängl G, Reinert D, Rípodas P, Baldauf M (2015) The ICON (ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic) modelling framework of DWD and MPI-M: Description of the non-hydrostatic dynamical core. Q J Roy Meteorol Soc 141(687):563–579. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2378




Ocean model MPIOM (since 2000-01-01)

Ocean contributions are based on an ocean simulation of the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology Ocean Model (MPIOM) as processed at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) for GRACE-FO de-aliasing products AOD1B RL07. MPIOM is forced by atmospheric fields from the Operational European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model and it is given on a regular grid of 0.5° x 0.5° resolution and a temporal resolution of 3 hours. Here, ocean-bottom pressure anomalies are used to infer mass anomalies based on a hydrostatic assumption.

References:
Jungclaus J, Fischer N, Haak H, Lohmann K, Marotzke J, Matei D, Mikolajewicz U, Notz D, Von Storch J (2013) Characteristics of the ocean simulations in the Max Planck Institute Ocean Model (MPIOM) the ocean component of the MPI-Earth system model. J Adv Model Earth Syst 5(2):422–446. https://doi.org/10.1002/jame.20023
Shihora, L., Balidakis, K., Dill, R., Dahle, C., Ghobadi-Far, K., Bonin, J., Dobslaw, H. (2022). Non-tidal background modeling for satellite gravimetry based on operational ECWMF and ERA5 reanalysis data: AOD1B RL07. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 127, e2022JB024360. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JB024360

Previous meteorological models used in Atmacs

Regional model ICON-EU since 2016-01-14

  • non-hydrostatic, compressible detail model
  • covering nearly entire Europe
  • 659 156 surface grid points with nodal distances of ~6.5 km
  • triangular cells of approx. equal size
  • 60 layers with upwards increasing thickness (20 m .. 2800 m)
  • constant height of 22.5 km
  • 3 hours time interval

Regional model COSMO-EU from 2005-11-01 to 2016-11-30 (former name LM2):

  • non-hydrostatic, compressible detail model
  • covering nearly entire Europe
  • 436 905 surface grid points with nodal distances of 7 km
  • square cells of approx. equal size
  • 40 layers with upwards increasing thickness (20 m .. 2800 m)
  • constant height of 23.6 km
  • parameters used: surface air pressure, temperature and specific humidity in each layer, geometrical height
  • 6 hours time interval
  • 3 hours time interval since 2012-02-23

Regional model LM1 (until 2005-10-31):

  • covering Germany and neighboring countries
  • 105 625 surface grid points with nodal distances of 7 km
  • horizontal discretization same as in LM2
  • 35 layers with upwards increasing thickness (70 m .. 2800 m)

Reference:
Steppeler, J., Doms, G., Schättler, U., 2003. Meso-gamma scale forecasts using the nonhydrostatic model LM. Meteoro. Atmosph. Phys. 1/4, 75-96.

Global model GME 384 (2012-02-29 until 2015-02-22):

Global model GME 256 (2010-02-02 until 2012-02-28):

Difference to GME 384: horizontal discretization

Global model GME 192 (2004-11-01 until 2010-02-01):

Difference to GME 256: horizontal and vertical discretization

Global model GME 128 (until 2004-10-31):

Difference to GME 192: horizontal discretization

Reference:
Majewski, D., Liermann, D., Prohl, P., Ritter, B., Buchhold, M., Hanisch, T., Paul, G., Wergen, W., Baumgardner, J., 2002. The operational global icosahedralhexagonal grid point model GME: description and high resolution tests. Mon. Wea. Rev. 130, 319-338.