Multiscale Methods for Accurate, Efficient, and Scale-Aware Models of the Earth System

Some of the greatest challenges in projecting the future of Earth's climate result from the significant and complex interactions among small-scale features and large-scale structures of the ocean and atmosphere. In order to advance earth-system science, a new generation of models are required to capture the structure and evolution of the climate system across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. Our primary goal is to produce better models for these critical processes and constituents, from ocean-eddy and cloud-system to global scales, through improved physical and computational implementations. These processes must be represented seamlessly from highly resolved regions where they are represented explicitly to coarse resolution regions where they are parameterized. Our primary objective is to introduce accurate and computationally efficient treatments of interactive clouds, convection, and eddies into the next generation of CESM at resolutions approaching the characteristic scales of these structures. We plan to deliver treatments of these processes and constituents that are scientifically useful over resolutions ranging from 2 to 1/16 degrees.