Geoscientific Model Development

The 4D reconstruction of dynamic geological evolution processes for renowned geological features
Jiateng Guo, Zhibin Liu, Xulei Wang, Lixin Wu, Shanjun Liu, and Yunqiang Li
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 847–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-847-2024, 2024
This study proposes a 3D and temporally dynamic (4D) geological modeling method. Several simulation and actual cases show that the 4D spatial and temporal evolution of regional geological formations can be modeled easily using this method with smooth boundaries. The 4D modeling system can dynamically present the regional geological evolution process under the timeline, which will be helpful to the research and teaching on the formation of typical and complex geological features.

The prototype NOAA Aerosol Reanalysis version 1.0: description of the modeling system and its evaluation
Shih-Wei Wei, Mariusz Pagowski, Arlindo da Silva, Cheng-Hsuan Lu, and Bo Huang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 795–813, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-795-2024, 2024
This study describes the modeling system and the evaluation results for the first prototype version of a global aerosol reanalysis product at NOAA, prototype NOAA Aerosol ReAnalysis version 1.0 (pNARA v1.0). We evaluated pNARA v1.0 against independent datasets and compared it with other reanalyses. We identified deficiencies in the system (both in the forecast model and in the data assimilation system) and the uncertainties that exist in our reanalysis.

A model of the within-population variability of budburst in forest trees
Jianhong Lin, Daniel Berveiller, Christophe François, Heikki Hänninen, Alexandre Morfin, Gaëlle Vincent, Rui Zhang, Cyrille Rathgeber, and Nicolas Delpierre
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 865–879, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-865-2024, 2024
Currently, the high variability of budburst between individual trees is overlooked. The consequences of this neglect when projecting the dynamics and functioning of tree communities are unknown. Here we develop the first process-oriented model to describe the difference in budburst dates between individual trees in plant populations. Beyond budburst, the model framework provides a basis for studying the dynamics of phenological traits under climate change, from the individual to the community.

GEO4PALM v1.1: an open-source geospatial data processing toolkit for the PALM model system
Dongqi Lin, Jiawei Zhang, Basit Khan, Marwan Katurji, and Laura E. Revell
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 815–845, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-815-2024, 2024
GEO4PALM is an open-source tool to generate static input for the Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation (PALM) model system. Geospatial static input is essential for realistic PALM simulations. However, existing tools fail to generate PALM's geospatial static input for most regions. GEO4PALM is compatible with diverse geospatial data sources and provides access to free data sets. In addition, this paper presents two application examples, which show successful PALM simulations using GEO4PALM.

MinVoellmy v1: a lightweight model for simulating rapid mass movements based on a modified Voellmy rheology
Stefan Hergarten
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 781–794, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-781-2024, 2024
The Voellmy rheology has been widely used for simulating snow and rock avalanches. Recently, a modified version of this rheology was proposed, which turned out to be able to predict the observed long runout of large rock avalanches theoretically. The software MinVoellmy presented here is the first numerical implementation of the modified rheology. It consists of MATLAB and Python classes, where simplicity and parsimony were the design goals.

Skin Sea Surface Temperature schemes in coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling: the impact of chlorophyll-interactive e-folding depth
Vincenzo de Toma, Daniele Ciani, Yassmin Hesham, Chunxue Yang, Vincenzo Artale, Andrea Pisano, Davide Cavaliere, Rosalia Santoleri, and Andrea Storto
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-13,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
This study explores methods to reconstruct diurnal variations in skin sea surface temperature in a model of the Mediterranean Sea. Our new approach, considering chlorophyll concentration, enhances spatial and temporal variations in the warm layer. Comparative analysis shows context-dependent improvements. The proposed "chlorophyll-interactive" method brings the surface net total heat flux closer to zero annually, despite a net heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere.

Modeling collision–coalescence in particle microphysics: numerical convergence of mean and variance of precipitation in cloud simulations using the University of Warsaw Lagrangian Cloud Model (UWLCM) 2.1
Piotr Zmijewski, Piotr Dziekan, and Hanna Pawlowska
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 759–780, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-759-2024, 2024
In computer simulations of clouds it is necessary to model the myriad of droplets that constitute a cloud. A popular method for this is to use so-called super-droplets (SDs), each representing many real droplets. It has remained a challenge to model collisions of SDs. We study how precipitation in a cumulus cloud depends on the number of SDs. Surprisingly, we do not find convergence in mean precipitation even for numbers of SDs much larger than typically used in simulations.

Performance and process-based evaluation of the BARPA-R Australasian regional climate model version 1
Emma Howard, Chun-Hsu Su, Christian Stassen, Rajashree Naha, Harvey Ye, Acacia Pepler, Samuel S. Bell, Andrew J. Dowdy, Simon O. Tucker, and Charmaine Franklin
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 731–757, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-731-2024, 2024
The BARPA-R modelling configuration has been developed to produce high-resolution climate hazard projections within the Australian region. When using boundary driving data from quasi-observed historical conditions, BARPA-R shows good performance with errors generally on par with reanalysis products. BARPA-R also captures trends, known modes of climate variability, large-scale weather processes, and multivariate relationships.

A Deep Learning-Based Consistency Test Approach for Earth System Models on Heterogeneous Many-Core Systems
Yangyang Yu, Shaoqing Zhang, Haohuan Fu, Dexun Chen, Yang Gao, Xiaopei Lin, Zhao Liu, and Xiaojing Lv
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-10,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
The hardware-related perturbations caused by the heterogeneous many-core architectures can blend with software or human errors, which can affect the accuracy of the model consistency verification. We develop a deep learning-based consistency test tool for ESMs on the heterogeneous systems (ESM-DCT) and evaluate it in CESM on new Sunway system. The ESM-DCT can detect the existence of software or human errors when taking hardware-related perturbations into account.

Monsoon Mission Coupled Forecast System version 2.0: model description and Indian monsoon simulations
Deepeshkumar Jain, Suryachandra A. Rao, Ramu A. Dandi, Prasanth A. Pillai, Ankur Srivastava, Maheswar Pradhan, and Kiran V. Gangadharan
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 709–729, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-709-2024, 2024
The present paper discusses and evaluates the new Monsoon Mission Coupled Forecast System model (MMCFS) version 2.0 which upgrades the currently operational MMCFS v1.0 at the Indian Meteorological Department, India. The individual model components have been substantially upgraded independently by their respective scientific groups. MMCFS v2.0 includes these upgrades in the operational coupled model. The new model shows significant skill improvement in simulating the Indian monsoon.

Modeling below-cloud scavenging of size-resolved particles in GEM-MACHv3.1
Roya Ghahreman, Wanmin Gong, Paul A. Makar, Alexandru Lupu, Amanda Cole, Kulbir Banwait, Colin Lee, and Ayodeji Akingunola
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 685–707, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-685-2024, 2024
The article explores the impact of different representations of below-cloud scavenging on model biases. A new scavenging scheme and precipitation-phase partitioning improve the model's performance, with better SO42- scavenging and wet deposition of NO3- and NH4+.

Impacts of a double-moment bulk cloud microphysics scheme (NDW6-G23) on aerosol fields in NICAM.19 with a global 14 km grid resolution
Daisuke Goto, Tatsuya Seiki, Kentaroh Suzuki, Hisashi Yashiro, and Toshihiko Takemura
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 651–684, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-651-2024, 2024
Global climate models with coarse grid sizes include uncertainties about the processes in aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions. To reduce these uncertainties, here we performed numerical simulations using a new version of our global aerosol transport model with a finer grid size over a longer period than in our previous study. As a result, we found that the cloud microphysics module influences the aerosol distributions through both aerosol wet deposition and aerosol–cloud interactions.

Computationally efficient parameter estimation for high-dimensional ocean biogeochemical models
Skyler Kern, Mary E. McGuinn, Katherine M. Smith, Nadia Pinardi, Kyle E. Niemeyer, Nicole S. Lovenduski, and Peter E. Hamlington
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 621–649, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-621-2024, 2024
Computational models are used to simulate the behavior of marine ecosystems. The models often have unknown parameters that need to be calibrated to accurately represent observational data. Here, we propose a novel approach to simultaneously determine a large set of parameters for a one-dimensional model of a marine ecosystem in the surface ocean at two contrasting sites. By utilizing global and local optimization techniques, we estimate many parameters in a computationally efficient manner.

CICE on a C-grid: new momentum, stress, and transport schemes for CICEv6.5
Jean-Francois Lemieux, William Lipscomb, Anthony Craig, David A. Bailey, Elizabeth Hunke, Philippe Blain, Till A. S. Rasmussen, Mats Bentsen, Frederic Dupont, David Hebert, and Richard Allard
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-239,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
We present the latest version of the CICE model. CICE solves equations that describe the dynamics and the growth/melt of sea ice. To do so, the domain is divided in grid cells and the variables are positioned at specific locations in the cells. A new implementation (C-grid) is presented with the velocity located on cell edges. Compared to the previous B-grid, the C-grid allows a natural coupling with some oceanic and atmospheric models. It also allows the transport of ice in narrow channels.

Sensitivity of air quality model responses to emission changes: comparison of results based on four EU inventories through FAIRMODE benchmarking methodology
Alexander de Meij, Cornelis Cuvelier, Philippe Thunis, Enrico Pisoni, and Bertrand Bessagnet
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 587–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-587-2024, 2024
In our study the robustness of the model responses to emission reductions in the EU is assessed when the emission data are changed. Our findings are particularly important to better understand the uncertainties associated to the emission inventories and how these uncertainties impact the level of accuracy of the resulting air quality modelling, which is a key for designing air quality plans. Also crucial is the choice of indicator to avoid misleading interpretations of the results.

A simple and realistic aerosol emission approach for use in the Thompson–Eidhammer microphysics scheme in the NOAA UFS Weather Model (version GSL global-24Feb2022)
Haiqin Li, Georg A. Grell, Ravan Ahmadov, Li Zhang, Shan Sun, Jordan Schnell, and Ning Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 607–619, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-607-2024, 2024
We developed a simple and realistic method to provide aerosol emissions for aerosol-aware microphysics in a numerical weather forecast model. The cloud-radiation differences between the experimental (EXP) and control (CTL) experiments responded to the aerosol differences. The strong positive precipitation biases over North America and Europe from the CTL run were significantly reduced in the EXP run. This study shows that a realistic representation of aerosol emissions should be considered.

Representing effects of surface heterogeneity in a multi-plume eddy diffusivity mass flux boundary layer parameterization
Nathan Patrick Arnold
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-245,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Earth System Models often represent the land surface at smaller scales than the atmosphere, but surface-atmosphere coupling uses only aggregated surface properties. This study presents a method to allow heterogeneous surface properties to modify boundary layer updrafts. The method is tested in single column experiments. Updraft properties are found to reasonably covary with surface conditions, and simulated boundary layer variability is enhanced over more heterogeneous land surfaces.

On the formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosol in chemical transport models: an evaluation of the WRF-CHIMERE (v2020r2) model with a focus over the Finnish boreal forest
Giancarlo Ciarelli, Sara Tahvonen, Arineh Cholakian, Manuel Bettineschi, Bruno Vitali, Tuukka Petäjä, and Federico Bianchi
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 545–565, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-545-2024, 2024
The terrestrial ecosystem releases large quantities of biogenic gases in the Earth's Atmosphere. These gases can effectively be converted into so-called biogenic aerosol particles and, eventually, affect the Earth's climate. Climate prediction varies greatly depending on how these processes are represented in model simulations. In this study, we present a detailed model evaluation analysis aimed at understanding the main source of uncertainty in predicting the formation of biogenic aerosols.

The first application of a numerically exact, higher-order sensitivity analysis approach for atmospheric modelling: implementation of the hyperdual-step method in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) version 5.3.2
Jiachen Liu, Eric Chen, and Shannon L. Capps
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 567–585, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-567-2024, 2024
Air pollution harms human life and ecosystems, but its sources are complex. Scientists and policy makers use air pollution models to advance knowledge and inform control strategies. We implemented a recently developed numeral system to relate any set of model inputs, like pollutant emissions from a given activity, to all model outputs, like concentrations of pollutants harming human health. This approach will be straightforward to update when scientists discover new processes in the atmosphere.

Development of the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem unified tropospheric-stratospheric chemistry extension (UCX) in GEOS-Chem Adjoint v36
Irene Constantina Dedoussi, Daven K. Henze, Sebastian D. Eastham, Raymond L. Speth, and Steven R. H. Barrett
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-233,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Atmospheric model gradients provide a meaningful tool for better understanding the underlying atmospheric processes. Adjoint modeling enables computationally efficient gradient calculations. We present the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem unified chemistry extension (UCX). With this development, the GEOS-Chem adjoint model can capture stratospheric ozone and other processes jointly with tropospheric processes. We apply it to characterize the Antarctic ozone depletion potential of active halogen species.