Geoscientific Model Development

Lagrangian tracking of sea ice in Community Ice CodE (CICE; version 5)
Chenhui Ning, Shiming Xu, Yan Zhang, Xuantong Wang, Zhihao Fan, and Jiping Liu
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-29,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Sea ice models are mainly based on non-moving structured grids, which is different from the buoy measurements that follow the ice drift. To facilitate Lagrangian analysis, we introduce online tracking of sea ice in the CICE model. We validate the sea ice tracking with buoys, and further evaluate the sea ice deformations in high-resoltuion simulations, which show multi-fractal characteristics. The source code is openly available and can be used in various scientific and operational applications.

A generic algorithm to automatically classify urban fabric according to the local climate zone system: implementation in GeoClimate 0.0.1 and application to French cities
Jérémy Bernard, Erwan Bocher, Matthieu Gousseff, François Leconte, and Elisabeth Le Saux Wiederhold
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2077–2116, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2077-2024, 2024
Geographical features may have a considerable effect on local climate. The local climate zone (LCZ) system proposed by Stewart and Oke (2012) is seen as a standard approach for classifying any zone according to a set of geographic indicators. While many methods already exist to map the LCZ, only a few tools are openly and freely available. We present the algorithm implemented in GeoClimate software to identify the LCZ of any place in the world using OpenStreetMap data.

Impacts of land-use change on biospheric carbon: an oriented benchmark using ORCHIDEE land surface model
Thi Lan Anh Dinh, Daniel Goll, Philippe Ciais, and Ronny Lauerwald
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-42,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
The study assesses the performance of the dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), ORCHIDEE, in capturing the impact of land-use change on carbon stocks across Europe. Comparisons with observations reveal that the model accurately represents carbon fluxes and stocks. Despite the underestimations in certain land-use conversions, the model describes general trends in soil carbon response to land-use change, aligning with the site observations.

Modelling water isotopologues (1H2H16O, 1H217O) in the coupled numerical climate model iLOVECLIM (version 1.1.5)
Thomas Extier, Thibaut Caley, and Didier M. Roche
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2117–2139, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2117-2024, 2024
Stable water isotopes are used to infer changes in the hydrological cycle for different time periods in climatic archive and climate models. We present the implementation of the δ2H and δ17O water isotopes in the coupled climate model iLOVECLIM and calculate the d- and 17O-excess. Results of a simulation under preindustrial conditions show that the model correctly reproduces the water isotope distribution in the atmosphere and ocean in comparison to data and other global circulation models.

PyRTlib: an educational Python-based library for non-scattering atmospheric microwave radiative transfer computations
Salvatore Larosa, Domenico Cimini, Donatello Gallucci, Saverio Teodosio Nilo, and Filomena Romano
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2053–2076, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2053-2024, 2024
PyRTlib is an attractive educational tool because it provides a flexible and user-friendly way to broadly simulate how electromagnetic radiation travels through the atmosphere as it interacts with atmospheric constituents (such as gases, aerosols, and hydrometeors). PyRTlib is a so-called radiative transfer model; these are commonly used to simulate and understand remote sensing observations from ground-based, airborne, or satellite instruments.

Deep Learning Driven Simulations of Boundary Layer Cloud over the US Southern Great Plains
Tianning Su and Yunyan Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-25,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Using two decades of field observation over the Southern Great Plains, this study developed a deep learning model to simulate the complex dynamics of boundary layer clouds. The deep learning model can serve as the cloud parameterization within reanalysis frameworks, offering insights into improving the simulation of low clouds. By quantifying biases due to various meteorological factors and parameterizations, this deep learning-driven approach bridges the observational-modeling divide.

High-precision 1′ × 1′ bathymetric model of Philippine Sea inversed from marine gravity anomalies
Dechao An, Jinyun Guo, Xiaotao Chang, Zhenming Wang, Yongjun Jia, Xin Liu, Valery Bondur, and Heping Sun
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2039–2052, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2039-2024, 2024
Seafloor topography, as fundamental geoinformation in marine surveying and mapping, plays a crucial role in numerous scientific studies. In this paper, we focus on constructing a high-precision seafloor topography and bathymetry model for the Philippine Sea (5° N–35° N, 120° E–150° E), based on shipborne bathymetric data and marine gravity anomalies, and evaluate the reliability of the model's accuracy.

Modelling long-term industry energy demand and CO2 emissions in the system context using REMIND (version 3.1.0)
Michaja Pehl, Felix Schreyer, and Gunnar Luderer
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2015–2038, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2015-2024, 2024
We extend the REMIND model (used to investigate climate mitigation strategies) by an industry module that represents cement, chemical, steel, and other industries. We also present a method for deriving scenarios of industry subsector activity and energy demand, consistent with established socioeconomic scenarios, allowing us to investigate the different climate change mitigation challenges and strategies in industry subsectors in the context of the entire energy–economy–climate system.

The Global Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System version 1.0
Kerry Anderson, Jack Chen, Peter Englefield, Debora Griffin, Paul Makar, and Dan Thompson
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-31,2024
Preprint under review for GMD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
The Global Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System (GFFEPS) is a model that predicts smoke and carbon emissions from wildland fires. The model calculates emissions from the ground up based on satellite detected fires, modelled weather and fire characteristics. Unlike other global models, GFFEPS uses daily weather conditions to capture changing burning conditions on a day-to-day basis. GFFEPS produced lower carbon emissions due to the changing weather not captured by the other models.

Deep learning applied to CO2 power plant emissions quantification using simulated satellite images
Joffrey Dumont Le Brazidec, Pierre Vanderbecken, Alban Farchi, Grégoire Broquet, Gerrit Kuhlmann, and Marc Bocquet
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1995–2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1995-2024, 2024
Our research presents an innovative approach to estimating power plant CO2 emissions from satellite images of the corresponding plumes such as those from the forthcoming CO2M satellite constellation. The exploitation of these images is challenging due to noise and meteorological uncertainties. To overcome these obstacles, we use a deep learning neural network trained on simulated CO2 images. Our method outperforms alternatives, providing a positive perspective for the analysis of CO2M images.

Three-dimensional geological modelling of igneous intrusions in LoopStructural v1.5.10
Fernanda Alvarado-Neves, Laurent Ailleres, Lachlan Grose, Alexander R. Cruden, and Robin Armit
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1975–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1975-2024, 2024
Previous work has demonstrated that adding geological knowledge to modelling methods creates more accurate and reliable models. Following this reasoning, we added constraints from magma emplacement mechanisms into existing modelling frameworks to improve the 3D characterisation of igneous intrusions. We tested the method on synthetic and real-world case studies, and the results show that our method can reproduce intrusion morphologies with no manual processing and using realistic datasets.

Estimating volcanic ash emissions using retrieved satellite ash columns and inverse ash transport modeling using VolcanicAshInversion v1.2.1, within the operational eEMEP (emergency European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) volcanic plume forecasting system (version rv4_17)
André R. Brodtkorb, Anna Benedictow, Heiko Klein, Arve Kylling, Agnes Nyiri, Alvaro Valdebenito, Espen Sollum, and Nina Kristiansen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1957–1974, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1957-2024, 2024
It is vital to know the extent and concentration of volcanic ash in the atmosphere during a volcanic eruption. Whilst satellite imagery may give an estimate of the ash right now (assuming no cloud coverage), we also need to know where it will be in the coming hours. This paper presents a method for estimating parameters for a volcanic eruption based on satellite observations of ash in the atmosphere. The software package is open source and applicable to similar inversion scenarios.

Sensitivity of the WRF-Chem v4.4 simulations of ozone and formaldehyde and their precursors to multiple bottom-up emission inventories over East Asia during the KORUS-AQ 2016 field campaign
Kyoung-Min Kim, Si-Wan Kim, Seunghwan Seo, Donald R. Blake, Seogju Cho, James H. Crawford, Louisa K. Emmons, Alan Fried, Jay R. Herman, Jinkyu Hong, Jinsang Jung, Gabriele G. Pfister, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Jung-Hun Woo, and Qiang Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1931–1955, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1931-2024, 2024
Three emission inventories were evaluated for East Asia using data acquired during a field campaign in 2016. The inventories successfully reproduced the daily variations of ozone and nitrogen dioxide. However, the spatial distributions of model ozone did not fully agree with the observations. Additionally, all simulations underestimated carbon monoxide and volatile organic compound (VOC) levels. Increasing VOC emissions over South Korea resulted in improved ozone simulations.

A novel numerical implementation for the surface energy budget of melting snowpacks and glaciers
Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Fanny Brun, and Marie Dumont
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1903–1929, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1903-2024, 2024
In this paper, we provide a novel numerical implementation for solving the energy exchanges at the surface of snow and ice. By combining the strong points of previous models, our solution leads to more accurate and robust simulations of the energy exchanges, surface temperature, and melt while preserving a reasonable computation time.

Optimising urban measurement networks for CO2 flux estimation: a high-resolution observing system simulation experiment using GRAMM/GRAL
Sanam Noreen Vardag and Robert Maiwald
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1885–1902, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1885-2024, 2024
We use the atmospheric transport model GRAMM/GRAL in a Bayesian inversion to estimate urban CO2 emissions on a neighbourhood scale. We analyse the effect of varying number, precision and location of CO2 sensors for CO2 flux estimation. We further test the inclusion of co-emitted species and correlation in the inversion. The study showcases the general usefulness of GRAMM/GRAL in measurement network design.

Accurate assessment of land–atmosphere coupling in climate models requires high-frequency data output
Kirsten L. Findell, Zun Yin, Eunkyo Seo, Paul A. Dirmeyer, Nathan P. Arnold, Nathaniel Chaney, Megan D. Fowler, Meng Huang, David M. Lawrence, Po-Lun Ma, and Joseph A. Santanello Jr.
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1869–1883, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1869-2024, 2024
We outline a request for sub-daily data to accurately capture the process-level connections between land states, surface fluxes, and the boundary layer response. This high-frequency model output will allow for more direct comparison with observational field campaigns on process-relevant timescales, enable demonstration of inter-model spread in land–atmosphere coupling processes, and aid in targeted identification of sources of deficiencies and opportunities for improvement of the models.

Accounting for uncertainties in forecasting tropical-cyclone-induced compound flooding
Kees Nederhoff, Maarten van Ormondt, Jay Veeramony, Ap van Dongeren, José Antonio Álvarez Antolínez, Tim Leijnse, and Dano Roelvink
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1789–1811, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1789-2024, 2024
Forecasting tropical cyclones and their flooding impact is challenging. Our research introduces the Tropical Cyclone Forecasting Framework (TC-FF), enhancing cyclone predictions despite uncertainties. TC-FF generates global wind and flood scenarios, valuable even in data-limited regions. Applied to cases like Cyclone Idai, it showcases potential in bettering disaster preparation, marking progress in handling cyclone threats.

New insights into the South China Sea throughflow and water budget seasonal cycle: evaluation and analysis of a high-resolution configuration of the ocean model SYMPHONIE version 2.4
Ngoc B. Trinh, Marine Herrmann, Caroline Ulses, Patrick Marsaleix, Thomas Duhaut, Thai To Duy, Claude Estournel, and R. Kipp Shearman
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1831–1867, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1831-2024, 2024
A high-resolution model was built to study the South China Sea (SCS) water, heat, and salt budgets. Model performance is demonstrated by comparison with observations and simulations. Important discards are observed if calculating offline, instead of online, lateral inflows and outflows of water, heat, and salt. The SCS mainly receives water from the Luzon Strait and releases it through the Mindoro, Taiwan, and Karimata straits. SCS surface interocean water exchanges are driven by monsoon winds.

Assessment of climate biases in OpenIFS version 43r3 across model horizontal resolutions and time steps
Abhishek Savita, Joakim Kjellsson, Robin Pilch Kedzierski, Mojib Latif, Tabea Rahm, Sebastian Wahl, and Wonsun Park
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1813–1829, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1813-2024, 2024
The OpenIFS model is used to examine the impact of horizontal resolutions (HR) and model time steps. We find that the surface wind biases over the oceans, in particular the Southern Ocean, are sensitive to the model time step and HR, with the HR having the smallest biases. When using a coarse-resolution model with a shorter time step, a similar improvement is also found. Climate biases can be reduced in the OpenIFS model at a cheaper cost by reducing the time step rather than increasing the HR. 

Towards variance-conserving reconstructions of climate indices with Gaussian process regression in an embedding space
Marlene Klockmann, Udo von Toussaint, and Eduardo Zorita
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1765–1787, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1765-2024, 2024
Reconstructions of climate variability before the observational period rely on climate proxies and sophisticated statistical models to link the proxy information and climate variability. Existing models tend to underestimate the true magnitude of variability, especially if the proxies contain non-climatic noise. We present and test a promising new framework for climate-index reconstructions, based on Gaussian processes, which reconstructs robust variability estimates from noisy and sparse data.