Models

Numerical models are important tools for climate research. Models used at the MPI-M cover atmosphere, ocean and land, and include physical, chemical, as well as biogeochemical processes. Models are developed for global and for regional applications. Coupling models of climate components to more comprehensive models, up to the Earth system model, is a major goal of current development works.

• Model distribution: ECHAM5 as standalone model and the COSMOS framework are available for research and education under the MPI-M Software License Agreement. The software packages are distributed by the Model and Data Group.
• The MPI-M special section in J. Climate Vol.19 No.16 comprises a series of papers describing and evaluating the atmospheric ECHAM5 GCM in different configurations and the coupled atmosphere ocean model ECHAM5/MPI-OM, which has been used for the German IPCC-AR4 simulations.
• The COSMOS framework is a software package that includes model codes, specifically the codes of the ECHAM5 and MPIOM general circulation models and the OASIS coupler, and scripting environments that allow to extract and run specific model versions from a single software package. The COSMOS Framework allows for example to build the ECHAM5/MPIOM climate model, including an active carbon cycle.
• ICON is a joint project of MPI-M and DWD for the development of a new generation of unified weather forecasting and climate models using triangular grids.