Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool

Axel Lauer; Veronika Eyring; Mattia Righi; Michael Buchwitz; Pierre Defourny; Martin Evaldsson; Pierre Friedlingstein; Richard de Jeu; Gerrit de Leeuw; Alexander Loew; Christopher J. Merchant; Benjamin Müller; Thomas Popp; Maximilian Reuter; Stein Sandven; Daniel Senftleben; Martin Stengel; Michel Van Roozendael; Sabrina Wenzel; Ulrika Willén

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool

Axel Lauer
, Veronika Eyring
, Mattia Righi
, Michael Buchwitz
, Pierre Defourny
, Martin Evaldsson
, Pierre Friedlingstein
, Richard de Jeu
, Gerrit de Leeuw
, Alexander Loew
, Christopher J. Merchant
, Benjamin Müller
, Thomas Popp
, Maximilian Reuter
, Stein Sandven
, Daniel Senftleben
, Martin Stengel
, Michel Van Roozendael
, Sabrina Wenzel
, Ulrika Willén

DLR
University of Bremen
University of Louvain
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
University of Exeter
Space Technology Center
Finnish Meteorological Institute
University of Helsinki
Universität München
University of Reading
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center
Deutscher Wetterdienst
Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is now moving into its sixth phase and aims at a more routine evaluation of the models as soon as the model output is published to the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). To meet this goal the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool), a community diagnostics and performance metrics tool for the systematic evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) in CMIP, has been developed and a first version (1.0) released as open source software in 2015. Here, an enhanced version of the ESMValTool is presented that exploits a subset of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) Phase 2 and this version is used to demonstrate the value of the data for model evaluation. This subset includes consistent, long-term time series of ECVs obtained from harmonized, reprocessed products from different satellite instruments for sea surface temperature, sea ice, cloud, soil moisture, land cover, aerosol, ozone, and greenhouse gases. The ESA CCI data allow extending the calculation of performance metrics as summary statistics for some variables and add an important alternative data set in other cases where observations are already available. The provision of uncertainty estimates on a per grid basis for the ESA CCI data sets is used in a new extended version of the Taylor diagram and provides important additional information for a more objective evaluation of the models. In our analysis we place a specific focus on the comparability of model and satellite data both in time and space. The ESA CCI data are well suited for an evaluation of results from global climate models across ESM compartments as well as an analysis of long-term trends, variability and change in the context of a changing climate. The enhanced version of the ESMValTool is released as open source software and ready to support routine model evaluation in CMIP6 and at individual modeling centers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	9-39
Number of pages	31
Journal	Remote Sensing of Environment
Volume	203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007
Publication status	Published - 15 Dec 2017
Externally published	Yes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 15 Life on Land

Keywords

Aerosols
CMIP
CO2
Climate
Clouds
ESA CCI
ESMValTool
Earth system models
Greenhouse gases
Land cover
Model evaluation
Ozone
Sea ice
Sea surface temperature
Soil moisture

Access to Document

10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

Cite this

Lauer, A., Eyring, V., Righi, M., Buchwitz, M., Defourny, P., Evaldsson, M., Friedlingstein, P., de Jeu, R., de Leeuw, G., Loew, A., Merchant, C. J., Müller, B., Popp, T., Reuter, M., Sandven, S., Senftleben, D., Stengel, M., Van Roozendael, M., Wenzel, S., & Willén, U. (2017). Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool. Remote Sensing of Environment, 203, 9-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

@article{5cf6c511f04440dbba0308586dc1d3db,

title = "Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool",

abstract = "The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is now moving into its sixth phase and aims at a more routine evaluation of the models as soon as the model output is published to the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). To meet this goal the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool), a community diagnostics and performance metrics tool for the systematic evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) in CMIP, has been developed and a first version (1.0) released as open source software in 2015. Here, an enhanced version of the ESMValTool is presented that exploits a subset of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) Phase 2 and this version is used to demonstrate the value of the data for model evaluation. This subset includes consistent, long-term time series of ECVs obtained from harmonized, reprocessed products from different satellite instruments for sea surface temperature, sea ice, cloud, soil moisture, land cover, aerosol, ozone, and greenhouse gases. The ESA CCI data allow extending the calculation of performance metrics as summary statistics for some variables and add an important alternative data set in other cases where observations are already available. The provision of uncertainty estimates on a per grid basis for the ESA CCI data sets is used in a new extended version of the Taylor diagram and provides important additional information for a more objective evaluation of the models. In our analysis we place a specific focus on the comparability of model and satellite data both in time and space. The ESA CCI data are well suited for an evaluation of results from global climate models across ESM compartments as well as an analysis of long-term trends, variability and change in the context of a changing climate. The enhanced version of the ESMValTool is released as open source software and ready to support routine model evaluation in CMIP6 and at individual modeling centers.",

keywords = "Aerosols, CMIP, CO2, Climate, Clouds, ESA CCI, ESMValTool, Earth system models, Greenhouse gases, Land cover, Model evaluation, Ozone, Sea ice, Sea surface temperature, Soil moisture",

author = "Axel Lauer and Veronika Eyring and Mattia Righi and Michael Buchwitz and Pierre Defourny and Martin Evaldsson and Pierre Friedlingstein and \{de Jeu\}, Richard and \{de Leeuw\}, Gerrit and Alexander Loew and Merchant, \{Christopher J.\} and Benjamin M{\"u}ller and Thomas Popp and Maximilian Reuter and Stein Sandven and Daniel Senftleben and Martin Stengel and \{Van Roozendael\}, Michel and Sabrina Wenzel and Ulrika Will{\'e}n",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2017",

month = dec,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007",

language = "English",

volume = "203",

pages = "9--39",

journal = "Remote Sensing of Environment",

issn = "0034-4257",

}

Lauer, A, Eyring, V, Righi, M, Buchwitz, M, Defourny, P, Evaldsson, M, Friedlingstein, P, de Jeu, R, de Leeuw, G, Loew, A, Merchant, CJ, Müller, B, Popp, T, Reuter, M, Sandven, S, Senftleben, D, Stengel, M, Van Roozendael, M, Wenzel, S & Willén, U 2017, 'Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool', Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 203, pp. 9-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

TY - JOUR

T1 - Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool

AU - Lauer, Axel

AU - Eyring, Veronika

AU - Righi, Mattia

AU - Buchwitz, Michael

AU - Defourny, Pierre

AU - Evaldsson, Martin

AU - Friedlingstein, Pierre

AU - de Jeu, Richard

AU - de Leeuw, Gerrit

AU - Loew, Alexander

AU - Merchant, Christopher J.

AU - Müller, Benjamin

AU - Popp, Thomas

AU - Reuter, Maximilian

AU - Sandven, Stein

AU - Senftleben, Daniel

AU - Stengel, Martin

AU - Van Roozendael, Michel

AU - Wenzel, Sabrina

AU - Willén, Ulrika

PY - 2017/12/15

Y1 - 2017/12/15

N2 - The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is now moving into its sixth phase and aims at a more routine evaluation of the models as soon as the model output is published to the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). To meet this goal the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool), a community diagnostics and performance metrics tool for the systematic evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) in CMIP, has been developed and a first version (1.0) released as open source software in 2015. Here, an enhanced version of the ESMValTool is presented that exploits a subset of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) Phase 2 and this version is used to demonstrate the value of the data for model evaluation. This subset includes consistent, long-term time series of ECVs obtained from harmonized, reprocessed products from different satellite instruments for sea surface temperature, sea ice, cloud, soil moisture, land cover, aerosol, ozone, and greenhouse gases. The ESA CCI data allow extending the calculation of performance metrics as summary statistics for some variables and add an important alternative data set in other cases where observations are already available. The provision of uncertainty estimates on a per grid basis for the ESA CCI data sets is used in a new extended version of the Taylor diagram and provides important additional information for a more objective evaluation of the models. In our analysis we place a specific focus on the comparability of model and satellite data both in time and space. The ESA CCI data are well suited for an evaluation of results from global climate models across ESM compartments as well as an analysis of long-term trends, variability and change in the context of a changing climate. The enhanced version of the ESMValTool is released as open source software and ready to support routine model evaluation in CMIP6 and at individual modeling centers.

AB - The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is now moving into its sixth phase and aims at a more routine evaluation of the models as soon as the model output is published to the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). To meet this goal the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool), a community diagnostics and performance metrics tool for the systematic evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) in CMIP, has been developed and a first version (1.0) released as open source software in 2015. Here, an enhanced version of the ESMValTool is presented that exploits a subset of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) Phase 2 and this version is used to demonstrate the value of the data for model evaluation. This subset includes consistent, long-term time series of ECVs obtained from harmonized, reprocessed products from different satellite instruments for sea surface temperature, sea ice, cloud, soil moisture, land cover, aerosol, ozone, and greenhouse gases. The ESA CCI data allow extending the calculation of performance metrics as summary statistics for some variables and add an important alternative data set in other cases where observations are already available. The provision of uncertainty estimates on a per grid basis for the ESA CCI data sets is used in a new extended version of the Taylor diagram and provides important additional information for a more objective evaluation of the models. In our analysis we place a specific focus on the comparability of model and satellite data both in time and space. The ESA CCI data are well suited for an evaluation of results from global climate models across ESM compartments as well as an analysis of long-term trends, variability and change in the context of a changing climate. The enhanced version of the ESMValTool is released as open source software and ready to support routine model evaluation in CMIP6 and at individual modeling centers.

KW - Aerosols

KW - CMIP

KW - CO2

KW - Climate

KW - Clouds

KW - ESA CCI

KW - ESMValTool

KW - Earth system models

KW - Greenhouse gases

KW - Land cover

KW - Model evaluation

KW - Ozone

KW - Sea ice

KW - Sea surface temperature

KW - Soil moisture

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85009801618

U2 - 10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

DO - 10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.007

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85009801618

SN - 0034-4257

VL - 203

SP - 9

EP - 39

JO - Remote Sensing of Environment

JF - Remote Sensing of Environment

ER -

Benchmarking CMIP5 models with a subset of ESA CCI Phase 2 data using the ESMValTool

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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