CMIP-OMIP

CMIP-OMIP
Name	CMIP-OMIP
Acronym	CMIP-OMIP
Discipline	Climate science
Started	2016

CMIP-OMIP

CMIP-OMIP is an international model intercomparison activity that coordinates ocean model components used in global climate simulations. It brings together modeling centres, observational programs, and research projects to evaluate ocean physics, biogeochemistry, and circulation using standardized experiments and diagnostics. The activity supports assessments and projections produced by major initiatives such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and regional ocean programs.

Overview

CMIP-OMIP unites institutions such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Met Office, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, NASA, and Max Planck Institute for Meteorology with observational partners including Argo (oceanography), GO-SHIP, World Ocean Circulation Experiment, Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology, and Global Climate Observing System. The activity interfaces with international frameworks like Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, World Meteorological Organization, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project, and International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Coordination draws on expertise from programs such as Future Earth, PAGES (Past Global Changes) and research centers including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Institute of Oceanography (China)],] and South African Weather Service. Community tools and standards leverage resources from Earth System Grid Federation, ESGF, NetCDF, CF (file format), and Python (programming language) ecosystems maintained by groups like Unidata and UCAR.

Scientific Objectives

The objectives emphasize evaluation of ocean heat uptake, carbon sequestration, and circulation changes to support assessments by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UNFCCC, IPBES, and regional agencies such as European Commission directorates. Goals include benchmarking representation of processes studied by El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, Southern Ocean, Arctic Ocean sea ice interactions, and phenomena observed by TOGA, WOCE, and Argo (oceanography). Objectives also address biases relevant to policy and impact communities including United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank. Scientific aims align with work from specialized groups such as OceanObs', CLIVAR, GEO, and SPARC.

Experimental Design and Forcings

Experimental protocols prescribe standardized forcing fields, boundary conditions, and spin-up strategies used across centers like Met Office Hadley Centre, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Forcings reference datasets including HadCRUT, CO2 concentration records, CMIP6 historical forcing, Aerosol Robotic Network, International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, and reanalyses from ERA5, NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, and JRA-55. Design includes present-day control runs, historical transient experiments, and idealized perturbations such as freshwater hosing used to probe MOC sensitivity analogous to studies by Wally Broecker and Wallace S. Broecker. Spin-up protocols follow practices developed at Princeton University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge modeling groups.

Model Components and Coupling

OMIP-style experiments isolate ocean and sea-ice model components derived from coupled systems produced by teams at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, GFDL, NOAA, CNRM, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (China), and CSIRO. Components include ocean general circulation models, sea-ice models, biogeochemical modules developed at institutions like LOCEAN, MBARI, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and parameterizations informed by field programs such as JGOFS and BATS. Coupling strategies follow frameworks implemented in model systems such as CESM, EC-Earth, HadGEM, IPSL-CM and couple through couplers like OASIS (software), NUOPC Layer, and platform environments from ESMF. Tuning and flux correction approaches reflect practices at Met Office, GFDL, and ECMWF.

Data Products and Diagnostics

Data outputs follow conventions for file formats and metadata from NetCDF, CF (file format), and distribution via Earth System Grid Federation nodes operated by PCMDI, ESGF, NASA Earthdata, and KNMI. Diagnostic suites include metrics for temperature, salinity, sea surface height, heat content, carbon inventories, oxygen, and nutrient cycles developed by groups such as CLIVAR, IOCCG, GLODAP, SOCAT, and Argo (oceanography). Standard diagnostics use tools like CDO, NCO, xarray, ESMValTool, and visualization via Panoply (software), Matplotlib, and ParaView. Output products support synthesis reports from IPCC, regional atlases such as those from European Commission Copernicus and national assessments by NOAA.

Participation and Coordination

Participation spans national laboratories, universities, and intergovernmental organizations including NOAA, NASA, Met Office, ECMWF, Max Planck Society, CNRS, CSIC, CSIRO, NIWA, JAMSTEC, and centers in India, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, China, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, and France. Coordination occurs through community steering committees, workshops hosted by WCRP, CLIVAR, and portal meetings supported by PCMDI and ESGF. Capacity-building and data stewardship engage initiatives like GEWEX, Future Earth, IOCCG, and regional programs such as PAGASA, INPE, BOM, and IMD to broaden representation and data interoperability.

Category:Climate modeling