Status of ACCESS-ESM1.6 experiments

This table summarizes the current status of DECK and Fast Track experiments using ACCESS-ESM1.6.

Notes:

  • See Airtable - CMIP AR7 Fast Track experiment viewer (public) for experiment details
  • ‘Run status’ is given as NxM yr where N is the number of ensemble members that have been completed and M is the number of years required for the submission (some experiments may have run a few extra years).
  • Raw model output is available here: /g/data/p73/archive/CMIP7/ACCESS-ESM1-6/production in the directory listed under ‘p73 location’. Access to p73 can be requested through MyNCI. The piControl run is split across two directories. The first 100 years in the esm-piControl directory is considered spin-up.
Experiment Run status p73 location Cmorised Published
DECK
piControl 600+ yrs Ndep2-PI-CNP-concentrations, PI-CNP-concentrations
esm-piControl 500+ yrs Ndep2-PI-CNP-emissions
abrupt-4xCO2 1x300 yr abrupt-4xCO2
1pctCO2 1x150 yr 1pctCO2-01
amip
historical (1850-2021)
esm-hist (1850-2021)
piClim-Control
piClim-anthro
piClim-4xCO2
Assessment Fast Track
1pctCO2-bgc 1x150 yr 1pctCO2-bgc-01
1pctCO2-rad 1x150 yr 1pctCO2-rad-01
esm-flat10 1x300 yr esm-flat10
esm-flat10-cdr
esm-flat10-zec

Last update: 14/05/2026

Concentration-driven idealised simulations: global mean surface air temperature

The temperature anomaly is calculated as the difference from the mean of the first 100 years of the piControl simulation.

The control simulation (run under constant 1850 conditions) (black) shows stable global mean temperature as expected. Temperature increases rapidly (red) when atmospheric CO2 is instantaneously quadrupled. The temperature increase is approximately linear when CO2 is increased by 1% per year (blue). In the case where only the biogeochemistry is forced with the increasing CO2 (green), the temperature is close to that of the control run. In the case where only the radiation scheme is subject to the increasing CO2, the temperature increase is close to that of the standard 1pctCO2 case.

Figure updated 04/05/2026 to extend piControl

Concentration-driven idealised simulations: carbon fluxes
The figure shows the globally integrated carbon source (positive) or sink (negative) to the atmosphere from the land (thin lines) and ocean (thick lines). A 10-year running-mean is shown as the land fluxes have large interannual variability responding to interannual climate variability.

The control simulation (black) shows carbon fluxes that are close to zero as required. Land carbon fluxes are more variable than ocean carbon fluxes. When atmospheric CO2 is instantaneously quadrupled, both land and ocean take up carbon (red) with the ocean sink being stronger and lasting longer than the land sink. When CO2 is increased by 1% per year, both land and ocean initially respond by taking up carbon (blue) but the land sink reduces over time and becomes a source as temperature increases. The behaviour is similar when only the biogeochemistry is forced with the increasing CO2 (green) with both ocean and land showing slightly larger CO2 sinks. When only the radiation scheme is forced with increasing CO2 (magenta), the ocean carbon flux remains close to zero while the land shows a carbon source, driven by the temperature increase in this case.

4xCO2 climate sensitivity from latest run

Slightly higher than in some of the earlier tests, but still smaller than ESM 1.5

ECS
ESM1.5 3.88
ESM1.6 3.60

Is there an error estimate on the fit?

Following Andrews et al bootstrapping method https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051607 gives a standard deviation of ~ 0.07.

Emissions-driven idealised simulations
In emissions-driven simulations the experiment is forced with anthropogenic emissions rather than atmospheric CO2 concentration. Simulated land and ocean carbon fluxes change the atmospheric CO2 concentration.
The figures show the emissions-driven piControl (black) and esm-flat10 (red). The esm-flat10 experiment has globally and temporally uniform emissions totalling 10 PgC/yr. The CO2 concentration in the esm-piControl is very stable (as desired) while it grows approximately linearly in the esm-flat10 case but more slowly than the concentration-driven 1pctCO2 (blue). The temperature increase is also slower than 1pctCO2. A larger maximum temperature anomaly is reached in esm-flat10 despite a lower maximum CO2 concentration. This indicates a feedback between the carbon cycle and climate.

The land and ocean carbon fluxes respond to the increasing atmospheric CO2 and changing climate. The ocean flux is mostly driven by the change in CO2 and responds with much larger uptake in the 1pctCO2 case than in the esm-flat10 case where there is more time for ocean CO2 to start to equilibrate with the atmosphere. The land carbon fluxes are more similar suggesting a larger influence from the warming climate.