Plot of the month for September 2017 shows the progress made by the modelling centres contributing atmosphere-only simulations to the PRIMAVERA project.

Recent progress in supercomputing power has enabled climate models to simulate more processes in detail and on smaller spatial scales. In the PRIMAVERA project, a coordinated set of global climate experiments has been designed to assess both standard and enhanced horizontal-resolution simulations of the atmosphere and ocean.

These simulations will provide a more reliable basis for assessing climate risks that are associated with weather phenomena, such as (extra-)tropical cyclones, and will form part of the CMIP6 model intercomparison exercise.

Six modelling centres are contributing and all have completed their atmosphere-only simulations driven by high-resolution historical sea surface temperatures, sea ice, and other forcings. The UK's Met Office Hadley Centre has completed an additional intermediate-resolution simulation.

Figure | Completed atmosphere-only PRIMAVERA simulations.

For more information, visit the PRIMAVERA website.