Early Cretaceous climate model output from the Kiel Climate Model (from Steinig et al. 2024)

README

This directory contains climate model output data for 36 different Early Cretaceous (Aptian/Albian) simulations performed with the Kiel Climate Model (KCM; ECHAM5/NEMO). Each zip file contains climatological mean values (monthly mean for the atmosphere; annual mean for the ocean) averaged over the last 100 model years of each simulation in netCDF format. A detailed description of the model setup, boundary conditions and integration strategy is given in the associated publication ("Controls on Early Cretaceous South Atlantic Ocean circulation and carbon burial – a climate model-proxy synthesis" in Climate of the Past; https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2732). Differences in the paleogeographies are limited to the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean regions, but the output is available globally.

Available Models

Table 1: Overview of available model simulations sorted by the four main boundary condition differences discussed in the associated paper:

Model ID
Opening Stage
CO2
Drake Passage Depth
Walvis Ridge Depth

DC1
stage 1
1200 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DC2
stage 2
1200 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DC3
stage 3
1200 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DC4
stage 1
600 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DC5
stage 2
600 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DC6
stage 3
600 ppm
0 m
1200 m

DS1
stage 1
1200 ppm
200 m
1200 m

DS2
stage 2
1200 ppm
200 m
1200 m

DS3
stage 3
1200 ppm
200 m
1200 m

DS4
stage 1
600 ppm
200 m
1200 m

DS5
stage 2
600 ppm
200 m
1200 m

DS6
stage 3
600 ppm
200 m
1200 m

C51
stage 1
1200 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

C53
stage 2
1200 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

C54
stage 3
1200 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

C61
stage 1
600 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

C63
stage 2
600 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

C64
stage 3
600 ppm
1400 m
1200 m

WC1
stage 1
1200 ppm
0 m
200 m

WC2
stage 2
1200 ppm
0 m
200 m

WC3
stage 3
1200 ppm
0 m
200 m

WC4
stage 1
600 ppm
0 m
200 m

WC5
stage 2
600 ppm
0 m
200 m

WC6
stage 3
600 ppm
0 m
200 m

WS1
stage 1
1200 ppm
200 m
200 m

WS2
stage 2
1200 ppm
200 m
200 m

WS3
stage 3
1200 ppm
200 m
200 m

WS4
stage 1
600 ppm
200 m
200 m

WS5
stage 2
600 ppm
200 m
200 m

WS6
stage 3
600 ppm
200 m
200 m

WI1
stage 1
1200 ppm
1400 m
200 m

WI2
stage 2
1200 ppm
1400 m
200 m

WI3
stage 3
1200 ppm
1400 m
200 m

WI4
stage 1
600 ppm
1400 m
200 m

WI5
stage 2
600 ppm
1400 m
200 m

WI6
stage 3
600 ppm
1400 m
200 m

Available Variables

Each model zip file contains a means directory with the climatological mean output files for the atmosphere and ocean.

Atmosphere

Files starting with _mm_* contain the monthly mean climatologies of 2D atmosphere variables. Each file represent a single variable for the following list of variables:

Table 2: Overview of available atmospheric variables. See the individual file metadata for further information.

Variable
Long Name

aclcov
total cloud cover

evap
evaporation

precip
total precipitation

slp
mean sea level pressure

tau_x
zonal wind stress

tau_y
meridional wind stress

temp2
2m air temperature

tsw
surface temperature of water

uwnd
10m u-velocity (winds)

vwnd
10m v-velocity (winds)

Ocean

Ocean variables are split across 4 individual files following the staggered grid of the NEMO ocean model. Naming structure follows .mean_grid_{T|U|V|W}.nc

Table 3: Overview of available ocean variables on the T-grid. See the individual file metadata for further information.

Variable
Long Name

iowaflup
Ice=>ocean net freshwater

sobowlin
Bowl Index

sohefldo
Net Downward Heat Flux

soicealb
Ice Albedo

soicecov
Ice Cover

soicetem
Ice Surface Temperature

somixhgt
Turbocline Depth

somxl010
Mixed Layer Depth 0.01

sorunoff
Runoffs

sosalflx
Surface Salt Flux

sosaline
Sea Surface Salinity

soshfldo
Shortwave Radiation

sosheig
Sea Surface Height

sosstsst
Sea Surface temperature

sowaflcd
concentration/dilution water flux

sowaflep
atmos=>ocean net freshwater

sowaflsp
solid precipitation from atm

sowafltp
total PE flux from atm

sowaflup
Net Upward Water Flux

vosaline
Salinity

votemper
Temperature

Table 4: Overview of available ocean variables on the U-grid. See the individual file metadata for further information.

Variable
Long Name

sozotaux
Wind Stress along i-axis

vozocrtx
Zonal Current

vozoeivu
Zonal EIV Current

Table 5: Overview of available ocean variables on the V-grid. See the individual file metadata for further information.

Variable
Long Name

sometauy
Wind Stress along j-axis

vomecrty
Meridional Current

vomeeivv
Meridional EIV Current

Table 6: Overview of available ocean variables on the W-grid. See the individual file metadata for further information.

Variable
Long Name

soleaeiw
eddy induced vel. coeff. at w-point

soleahtw
lateral eddy diffusivity

voddmavs
Salt Vertical Eddy Diffusivity

votkeavm
Vertical Eddy Viscosity

votkeavt
Vertical Eddy Diffusivity

votkeevd
Enhanced Vertical Diffusivity

votkeevm
Enhanced Vertical Viscosity

voverctz
Vertical Velocity

voveeviw
Vertical EIV Velocity

Publication: Steinig, S., Dummann, W., Hofmann, P., Frank, M., Park, W., Wagner, T., and Flögel, S.: Controls on Early Cretaceous South Atlantic Ocean circulation and carbon burial – a climate model-proxy synthesis, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2732, 2023.

Source: This dataset is available via Zenodo DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11386835.

Authors: Steinig, S., Dummann, W., Hofmann, P., Frank, M., Park, W., Wagner, T., and Flögel, S.

License: This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 .