Equatorial Pacific upwelling in rCM3 at different resolutions

Earth System Experiments
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Title :bell:: Equatorial Pacific upwelling in rCM3 at different resolutions

Summary :bell::
This experiment will run the ACCESS regional coupled climate model (ACCESS-RCM3) on a small domain in the equatorial Pacific at multiple resolutions, to test the relevance of resolution to upwelling velocity. It will also facilitate the testing and development of this model, to iron out kinks so it can be used by other members of the ESMWG.

Scientific motivation:
Upwelling on the equator is important for ENSO. Modelling it correctly is therefore important for predicting how ENSO and rainfall patterns might respond to climate change. This upwelling, which is both small (~m/day) and spatially and temporally variable, is difficult to observe, but a recent study (Karnauskas 2025) suggests it is more than double what is seen in CMIP models. We aim to test whether resolution affects upwelling velocity. Futhermore, the prescribed boundaries of the regional model will allow exploration of the causes of spatial and temporal variability, to be compared with the observations of Karnauskas (2025).

Experiment Name :bell:: eqPac_upwelling
People :bell:: @ashjbarnes @jemmajeffree
Model: ACCESS-rCM3
Configuration: ACCESS-RCM3 with GAL UM physics settings in eqPac_upwelling region
Initial conditions: GLORYS
Run plan: Jan2007-Dec2010 0.1°; Jan2008-Dec2010 0.05°; with a domain 5S-5N, 160W-80W
(possibility for extension to Dec 2012 or higher resolution, pending results)
Simulation details:
Total KSUs required :bell:: 250kSU
(with the potential to use more if available to test higher resolutions, pending results)
Total storage required :bell:: 5TB raw on scratch, likely a lot less (1TB?) to keep on gdata after analysis
Storage lifetime :bell:: 2 years
Long term data plan :bell:: Stuff relevant to publication on zenodo, other potentially useful fields onto massdata, rest deleted

Analysis:

Conclusion:

This experiment will serve both to benchmark and troubleshoot the new rCM3 model, and provide meaningful science results for our study of equatorial Pacific upwelling and how this is affected by model resolution.

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