CMIP6 volcanic forcing

Code and installation

The CMIP6 volcanic forcing implementation has been committed to the noresm (CESM1.2) repository and the noresm-dev (CESM2_beta) repository. The changes can be viewed here: \ https://github.com/metno/noresm/commit/59d2b4c4714c0df41141a10d79fd329b27b8aed6 \ https://github.com/metno/noresm-dev/commit/bbec72fa49ed57ab70d5052b8b4c0162eeb6ab88

SourceMods are available on FRAM/NIRD: \

/nird/projects/fram/nn2345k/ingo/CMIP6/Forcing/Volc/SourceMods_noresm_cesm1.2


/nird/projects/fram/nn2345k/ingo/CMIP6/Forcing/Volc/SourceMods_noresm_cesm2beta6

The folder

SourceMods_noresm_cesm2beta6

also contains a modified version of CAM’s

build-namelist

script that needs to be installed in

components/cam/bld/

Configuration of user namelists

For some compsets the below specifications are applied automatically. Still, you can specify the same settings in your

user_nl_cam

in your case directory.

CESM1.2 - climatological background forcing

Specify following in your

user_nl_cam

to activate the use of CMIP6 compliant volcanic background forcing: ! Users should add all user specific namelist changes below in the form of ! namelist_var = new_namelist_value

prescribed_volcaero_datapath           = '/cluster/shared/noresm/inputdata/atm/cam/volc'
prescribed_volcaero_file               = 'CMIP_CAM6_radiation_average_v3_reformatted.nc'
prescribed_volcaero_cycle_yr           = 1850
prescribed_volcaero_type               = 'CYCLICAL'
rad_climate            = 'A:Q:H2O', 'N:O2:O2', 'N:CO2:CO2', 'N:ozone:O3', 'N:N2O:N2O', 'N:CH4:CH4', 'N:CFC11:CFC11', 'N:CFC12:CFC12'
fincl1 = 'AODVVOLC', 'ABSVVOLC'

Note that

rad_climate

is specified here because CAM’s

build-namelist

script will otherwise add an extra entry that was needed by the CMIP5 volcanic forcing implementation.

CESM1.2 - transient forcing

Specify following in your

user_nl_cam

to activate the use of CMIP6 compliant transient (1850-2014) volcanic forcing: ! Users should add all user specific namelist changes below in the form of ! namelist_var = new_namelist_value

prescribed_volcaero_datapath           = '/cluster/shared/noresm/inputdata/atm/cam/volc'
prescribed_volcaero_file               = 'CMIP_CAM6_radiation_v3_reformatted.nc'
rad_climate            = 'A:Q:H2O', 'N:O2:O2', 'N:CO2:CO2', 'N:ozone:O3', 'N:N2O:N2O', 'N:CH4:CH4', 'N:CFC11:CFC11', 'N:CFC12:CFC12'
fincl1 = 'AODVVOLC', 'ABSVVOLC'

CESM2_beta - climatological background & transient

The

user_nl_cam

namelist settings are the same as for CESM1.2, except that following extra line needs to be added:

prescribed_strataero_file              = ' '

This will deactivate the use of NCAR’s alternative CMIP6 volcanic forcing.

CAM’s original

build-namelist

script does not properly recognise the deactivation and will issue an error that both

prescribed_strataero_file

and

prescribed_volcaero_file

are set.

As a workaround, replace

components/cam/bld/build-namelist

in your model tree with the modified version

::
/nird/projects/fram/nn2345k/ingo/CMIP6/Forcing/Volc/SourceMods_noresm_cesm2beta6/build-namelist

Writing the volcanic forcing to the history output for verification

The complete set of optical parameters of the volcanic forcing can be written to CAM-OSLO’s monthly history output by adding following in the case’s

user_nl_cam
fincl1 = 'ext_sun1','ext_sun2','ext_sun3','ext_sun4','ext_sun5','ext_sun6','ext_sun7','ext_sun8','ext_sun9','ext_sun10','ext_sun11','ext_sun12','ext_sun13','ext_sun14','omega_sun1','omega_sun2','omega_sun3','omega_sun4','omega_sun5','omega_sun6','omega_sun7','omega_sun8','omega_sun9','omega_sun10','omega_sun11','omega_sun12','omega_sun13','omega_sun14','g_sun1','g_sun2','g_sun3','g_sun4','g_sun5','g_sun6','g_sun7','g_sun8','g_sun9','g_sun10','g_sun11','g_sun12','g_sun13','g_sun14','ext_earth1','ext_earth2','ext_earth3','ext_earth4','ext_earth5','ext_earth6','ext_earth7','ext_earth8','ext_earth9','ext_earth10','ext_earth11','ext_earth12','ext_earth13','ext_earth14','ext_earth15','ext_earth16','omega_earth1','omega_earth2','omega_earth3','omega_earth4','omega_earth5','omega_earth6','omega_earth7','omega_earth8','omega_earth9','omega_earth10','omega_earth11','omega_earth12','omega_earth13','omega_earth14','omega_earth15','omega_earth16','g_earth1','g_earth2','g_earth3','g_earth4','g_earth5','g_earth6','g_earth7','g_earth8','g_earth9','g_earth10','g_earth11','g_earth12','g_earth13','g_earth14','g_earth15','g_earth16'

Note that each variable corresponds to a single band, that values are masked below the model’s tropopause and that all values are interpolated online from altitude to pressure. The output can be compared to the original input data which is stored in

CMIP_CAM6_radiation_average_v3.nc

and

CMIP_CAM6_radiation_v3.nc

in

/cluster/shared/noresm/inputdata/atm/cam/volc

on FRAM.