The SMHI Large Ensemble (SMHI-LENS) with EC-Earth3.3.1

Autor: Torben Koenigk, Tim Kruschke, Ramon Fuentes-Franco, Uwe Fladrich, Klaus Wyser, Mehdi Pasha Karami
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 14, Pp 4781-4796 (2021)
ISSN: 1991-9603
Popis: The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute used the global climate model EC-Earth3 to perform a large ensemble of simulations (SMHI-LENS). It consists of 50 members, covers the period 1970 to 2100, and comprises the SSP1-1.9, SSP3-3.4, SSP5-3.4-OS, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. Thus, it is currently the only large ensemble that allows for analyzing the effect of delayed mitigation actions versus no mitigation efforts and versus earlier efforts leading to similar radiative forcing at the year 2100. We describe the set-up of the SMHI-LENS in detail and provide first examples of its application. The ensemble mean future changes in key variables in the atmosphere and ocean are analyzed and compared against the variability across the ensemble members. In agreement with other large-ensemble simulations, we find that the future changes in the near-surface temperature are more robust than those for precipitation or sea level pressure. As an example of a possible application of the SMHI-LENS, we analyze the probability of exceeding specific global surface warming levels in the different scenarios. None of the scenarios is able to keep global warming in the 21st century below 1.5 ∘C. In SSP1-1.9 there is a probability of approximately 70 % to stay below 2 ∘C warming, while all other SSPs exceed this target in every single member of SMHI-LENS during the course of the century. We also investigate the point in time when the SSP5-8.5 and SSP5-3.4 ensembles separate, i.e., when their differences become significant, and likewise when the SSP5-3.4-OS and SSP4-3.4 ensembles become similar. Last, we show that the time of emergence of a separation between different scenarios can vary by several decades when reducing the ensemble size to 10 members.
Databáze: OpenAIRE