DOE OSTI · 2584413
Baseline Climate Variables for Earth System Modelling
Abstract
The Baseline Climate Variables for Earth System Modelling (ESM-BCVs) are defined as a list of 135 variables which have high utility for the evaluation and exploitation of climate simulations. The list reflects the most frequently used elements of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) archive. Successive phases of CMIP have supported strong results in science and substantially influence international climate policy formulation. This paper responds to both interest in exploiting CMIP data standards in a broader range of climate modelling activities and a need to achieve greater clarity about the significance and intention of variables in the CMIP Data Request. As Earth system modelling archives grow in scale and complexity, there are emerging problems associated with weak standardisation at the variable collection level. That is, there are good standards covering how specific variables should be archived, but this paper fills a gap in the standardisation of which variables should be archived. The ESM-BCV list is intended as a resource for ESM intercomparison projects (MIPs) developing requests to enable greater consistency among MIPs and as a reference for modelling centres to enhance consistency within MIPs. Provisional planning for the CMIP7 Data Request exploits the ESM-BCVs as a core element. The baseline variable list includes 98 variables which have modest or minor data volume footprints and could be generated systematically when simulations are produced and archived for exploitation by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) community. A further 35 variables are classed as “high volume” and are only suitable for production when the resource implications are justified.
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Juckes, Martin [University of Oxford (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000317702132), Taylor, Karl E. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000264912135), Antonio, Fabrizio [CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000276930111), Brayshaw, David [University of Reading (United Kingdom)], Buontempo, Carlo [ECMWF, Bonn (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000218745380), Cao, Jian [Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (China)], Durack, Paul J. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000328351438), Kawamiya, Michio [Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama (Japan)], Kim, Hyungjun [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejon (South Korea)] (ORCID:0000000310838416), Lovato, Tomas [CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000251886767), Mackallah, Chloe [CSIRO, Climate Science Centre, Melbourne (Australia)], Mizielinski, Matthew [Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000234574702), Nuzzo, Alessandra [CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000288016917), Stockhause, Martina [DKRZ, Hamburg (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000166364972), Visioni, Daniele [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000273422189), Walton, Jeremy [Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:000000017372178X), Turner, Briony [CMIP International Project Office, Didcot (United Kingdom)], O'Rourke, Eleanor [CMIP International Project Office, Didcot (United Kingdom)], Dingley, Beth [CMIP International Project Office, Didcot (United Kingdom)]. 2025-05-14. Baseline Climate Variables for Earth System Modelling. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2639-2025
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