The scientific focus of this effort is to understand the dynamical causes of systematic errors in the simulation of the path of the North Atlantic Current in the Community Climate System Model (CCSM), and to diagnose the consequences of the resulting errors in sea surface temperature, surface fluxes, and ocean transports on the broader scale climate system. The scientific approach will be to analyze the dynamical and thermodynamic balances of this current system in both standard resolution CCSM ocean only and coupled simulations, as well as a plethora of high-resolution Parallel Ocean Model (POP) ocean-only simulations that have been conducted in the last several years. The outcome of this study will be used to guide ocean component model configuration decisions in future versions of CCSM at both non-eddy-resolving and eddy-resolving resolutions.
Broader impacts: The CCSM is used by a couple of hundred scientists and students, worldwide. Improved performance of the CCSM, therefore, benefits a large number of climate scientists.
