The continuous development and improvement of numerical models for the investigation of the climate system is very expensive and complex.
The continuous development and improvement of numerical models for the investigation of the climate system is very expensive and complex. At GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel a new modular system has now been presented, which allows investigations to be carried in a flexible way, with varying levels of complexity. The system, called FOCI (Flexible Ocean and Climate Infrastructure), consists of different components that can be adapted and used in different disciplines, depending on the research question and available computing power.
In their model simulations, climate researchers always have to make compromises. Even with the largest computers available worldwide, they can only reproduce the real world to a limited extent. Depending on the application, simplifications have to be made in the spatial resolution, but also in the physical processes represented by the model. While model experiments over periods of months to a few years can often still be made with high spatial resolution, integrations over centuries to millennia can only be performed at coarser resolution. In the past, models were developed for a specific purpose. Now, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel presented a flexible model kit, called FOCI (Flexible Ocean and Climate Infrastructure). It is based on the Earth system model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg and has been modified with the NEMO ocean model, in order to represent small-scale processes in the oceans at higher resolution.
“In FOCI we combine decades of expertise in ocean and climate modelling at GEOMAR. The new system enables the investigation of new questions such as the influence of the stratospheric ozone hole on the circulation in the Southern Ocean or the impact of the Gulf Stream on atmospheric processes”, explains Professor Dr. Katja Matthes from the Maritime Meteorology Research Unit at GEOMAR.
Read more at Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)
Image: Schematic Diagram of the FOCI Model System with the difference components (Credit: C. Kersten, GEOMAR)
