Climate projections with ICON

The „ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic“ (ICON) model, which was developed in a close cooperation of Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie (MPI) and Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), can be used with two different packages of physical parameterizations. The version with parameterizations of MPI-ESM is also called MPI-ESM2. The aim of this module is to extend the atmospheric part of MPI-ESM2 to allow for local grid refinement, which is already applied in the operationally running version of the numerical weather-prediction model ICON-EU. The approach of two-way nesting, i.e. two-way feedback between the global model and the locally refined subdomain, should also be possible. This approach is also applicable for multiple subdomains nested into each other. As a first step, the extended model configuration will be used for simulations for the years of 1979-2014 with prescribed sea-surface temperature and sea-ice concentration of the “Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project” (AMIP). The local subdomain with the smallest grid-point distance (10-20 km) will comprise the European continent (Fig. 1).

Figure 2: Model orography in m for the global model with the coarsest grid-point distance (here about 160 km) and possible realizations of subdomains with a higher resolution over Europe (smallest grid-point distance about 10 km).