The DOE E3SM version 2.1: overview and assessment of the impacts of parameterized ocean submesoscales
Abstract. The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) version 2.1 builds on E3SMv2 with several changes, with the most notable being the addition of the Fox-Kemper et al. (2011) mixed-layer eddy parameterization. This parameterization captures the effect of finite-amplitude, mixed-layer eddies as an overturning streamfunction and has the primary function of restratification. Herein, we outline the changes to the mean climate state of E3SM that were introduced by the addition of this parameterization. Overall, the presence of the submesoscale parameterization improves the fidelity of the v2.1 simulation by reducing the ocean surface biases in the North Atlantic present in v2, as illustrated by changes in the climatological sea surface temperature and salinity and the Arctic sea-ice extent. Other impacts include a slight shoaling of the mixed-layer depths in the North Atlantic and a small improvement in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We note that the expected shoaling due to the parameterization is regionally dependent in our coupled configuration. In addition, we investigate why the parameterization and its impacts on mixed-layer depth have little impact on the simulated AMOC: despite increased dense-water formation in the Norwegian Sea, only a small fraction of the water formed makes its way south into the North Atlantic basin. Version 2.1 also exhibits small improvements in the atmospheric climatology, with smaller biases in many notable quantities and modes of variability.
Authors
- Nicole Jeffery (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2189-7139)
- Mathew Maltrud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1738-7489)
- Chengzhu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9632-0716)
- LeAnn M. Conlon
- T. K. Tesfa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9267-4288)
- Yan Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6464-0785)
- Jean‐Christophe Golaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1616-5435)
- Katherine Smith
- Xue Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9372-1776)
- Aixue Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1337-287X)
- Ana C. Ordoñez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9081-2595)
- Shaocheng Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8931-5145)
- Balwinder Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7062-8192)
- Alice Barthel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2481-8646)
- Karthik Balaguru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0181-2687)
- Jonathan D. Wolfe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1322-1385)
- Qi Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2959-0203)
- Luke Van Roekel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1418-5686)
- Walter M. Hannah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4811-1928)
- Bryce E. Harrop (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3952-4525)
- Po‐Lun Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3109-5316)
- Gautam Bisht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6641-7595)
- Oluwayemi A. Garuba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7931-7788)
- Mark Petersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7170-7511)
- Carolyn Begeman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9828-1741)
- James J. Benedict (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5115-5131)
- Jiwoo Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0016-7199)
- Peter J. Gleckler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2816-6224)
- Ben Moore-Maley
- Anthony Bartoletti
- Wuyin Lin
Institutions
- NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geoscientific model development
- Published
- 2025-03-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1613-2025
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Climate variability and models
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.21