Structure and performance of GFDL's CM4.0 climate model

We describe the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's CM4.0 physical climate model, with emphasis on those aspects that may be of particular importance to users of this model and its simulations. The model is built with the AM4.0/LM4.0 atmosphere/land model and OM4.0 ocean model. Topics include the rationale for key choices made in the model formulation, the stability as well as drift of the preindustrial control simulation, and comparison of key aspects of the historical simulations with observations from recent decades. Notable achievements include the relatively small biases in seasonal spatial patterns of top-of-atmosphere fluxes, surface temperature, and precipitation; reduced double Intertropical Convergence Zone bias; dramatically improved representation of ocean boundary currents; a high-quality simulation of climatological Arctic sea ice extent and its recent decline; and excellent simulation of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation spectrum and structure. Areas of concern include inadequate deep convection in the Nordic Seas; an inaccurate Antarctic sea ice simulation; precipitation and wind composites still affected by the equatorial cold tongue bias; muted variability in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation; strong 100 year quasiperiodicity in Southern Ocean ventilation; and a lack of historical warming before 1990 and too rapid warming thereafter due to high climate sensitivity and strong aerosol forcing, in contrast to the observational record. Overall, CM4.0 scores very well in its fidelity against observations compared to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 generation in terms of both mean state and modes of variability and should prove a valuable new addition for analysis across a broad array of applications.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links N/A
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor N/A
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author Held, I. M.
Guo, H.
Adcroft, A.
Dunne, J. P.
Horowitz, L. W.
Krasting, J.
Shevliakova, E.
Winton, M.
Zhao, M.
Bushuk, Mitchell
Wittenberg, A. T.
Wyman, B.
Xiang, Baoqiang
Zhang, R.
Anderson, W.
Balaji, V.
Donner, L.
Dunne, K.
Durachta, J.
Gauthier, P. P. G.
Ginoux, P.
Golaz, J.
Griffies, S. M.
Hallberg, R.
Harris, L.
Harrison, M.
Hurlin, W.
John, J.
Lin, P.
LIN, S.
Malyshev, S.
Menzel, Raymond
Milly, P. C. D.
Ming, Y.
Naik, V.
Paynter, D.
Paulot, F.
Rammaswamy, V.
Reichl, B.
Robinson, T.
Rosati, A.
Seman, C.
Silvers, L. G.
Underwood, S.
Zadeh, N.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2019-11-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2025-07-11T19:24:39.513804
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:24006
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Held, I. M., Guo, H., Adcroft, A., Dunne, J. P., Horowitz, L. W., Krasting, J., Shevliakova, E., Winton, M., Zhao, M., Bushuk, Mitchell, Wittenberg, A. T., Wyman, B., Xiang, Baoqiang, Zhang, R., Anderson, W., Balaji, V., Donner, L., Dunne, K., Durachta, J., Gauthier, P. P. G., Ginoux, P., Golaz, J., Griffies, S. M., Hallberg, R., Harris, L., Harrison, M., Hurlin, W., John, J., Lin, P., LIN, S., Malyshev, S., Menzel, Raymond, Milly, P. C. D., Ming, Y., Naik, V., Paynter, D., Paulot, F., Rammaswamy, V., Reichl, B., Robinson, T., Rosati, A., Seman, C., Silvers, L. G., Underwood, S., Zadeh, N.. (2019). Structure and performance of GFDL's CM4.0 climate model. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7p84g7j. Accessed 04 November 2025.

Harvest Source