Climate Variability & Change
Working Group CVCWG

CAM6 Prescribed SST AMIP Ensembles

The CVCWG has conducted a number of experiments using prescribed SST and ice forcing within CAM6 using the CESM2. Details on these ensembles and instructions for how to access the data can be found below.

We kindly ask that you acknowledge the CVCWG when presenting results based on the CAM6 Prescribed SST AMIP Ensembles in either oral and written form.

Project Details

  • Simulation Names:
    • Tropical AMIP 10-member ensemble:
      f.e21.FHIST.f09_f09.historical.ersstv5.toga.ensXX/f.e21.FSSP370.f09_f09.ssp370.ersstv5.toga.XX, XX = 01-10
    • Global AMIP 10-member ensemble:
      f.e21.FHIST_BGC.f09_f09.historical.ersstv5.goga.ensXX / f.e21.FSSP370_BGC.f09_f09.ssp370.ersstv5.goga.XX, XX = 01-10
  • Model Version: CESM2.1.1 (Tropical AMIP) / CESM2.1.2 (Global AMIP)   Codebase | Documentation
  • Resolution: 0.9x1.25 (CESM nominal 1o grid)
  • Years: 1880-2019 (Tropical AMIP), 1880-2021 (Global AMIP)
  • Ensemble Size: 10 members
  • Time Frequencies Saved: Monthly, Daily
  • Machine: NCAR:Cheyenne
  • Compsets: FHIST (Tropical AMIP), FHIST_BGC (Global_AMIP)

  • Additional Notes: For the Tropical AMIP Ensemble: SST's from 28S:28N are set to time-varying SST's from ERSSTv5. A transition/linear interpolation zone exists from 28:35 degree latitudes. From 35 degrees polewards full-period climatological SSTs (ERSSTv5)/sea-ice (HadISST1) are set.

    For the Global AMIP Ensemble: Global SST's (ERSSTv5) and sea-ice (HadISST1) are specified.

    All simulations from both ensembles were initialized from the 11th CESM2 historical member on January 1st, 1880, with each ensemble member receiving a small change in the initial air temperature via namelist setting PERTLIM. All CMIP6 time-varying external, natural and anthropogenic forcings were specified in these ensembles.

    Note: The simulations were split between the historical and ssp370 scenarios.

Data Acquisition

This data is available on both the NCAR Climate Data Gateway (web-access) and NCAR's casper system (NCAR-internal).

  • NCAR-internal
    Location on NCAR's campaign store or on the NCAR machine casper:
    • /glade/campaign/cesm/development/cvcwg/cvwg/f.e21.FHIST_FSSP370.f09_f09.ersstv5.toga/
    • /glade/campaign/cesm/development/cvcwg/cvwg/f.e21.FHIST_FSSP370_BGC.f09_f09.ersstv5.goga/

  • web-access
    The following are step by step directions on how to download this data from the Climate Data Gateway.
    1. Proceed to the CAM6 Prescribed SST AMIP Ensembles page.
    2. Scroll to the bottom of that page under Child Datasets, and click on the ensemble you are interested in.
    3. Scroll to the bottom of that page under Child Datasets, and click on the component and time frequency you are interested in.
    4. The files are organized by variable, listed at the end of each link. Click on the variable you are interested in.
    5. Click on the Download Options button. At this point, if you have not logged into the Climate Data Gateway you can do so now. If you have not registered before, registration is free and quick.
    6. Upon logging in you will see a file listing. Once you have identified a file that you would like to download, click on the check box to the left of the file name. Note that you can select multiple files on this page at once. (However, one cannot select/download multiple files across variables at once.) When you are finished selecting files, scroll to the top (or bottom) of the page and click on the Download Options for Selection box.
    7. Click the Request File Transfer from Archive, and choose whether to use a Curl or Wget script to download your selected data.