Readers following the "Advances in climate & climate effects modeling..." portion of the weekly research roundup may have noticed: in general, higher model resolution calculating climate behaviors at finer scales is helpful for increasing model fidelity against real-world observations. Coincident to this is another matter: It may be unfair as a purely scientific matter but climate models are held to a peculiarly high standard, given their crucial role as decision tools affecting huge swathes of human affairs. Within the error brackets of "we're in trouble" models have been good enough for quite a while, but what with the fuss and bother of modernization to account for what we're learning some folks want to make quite sure of what they're buying into, and fair enough on that.
All of this translates to more hardware and expense, especially with the fading of "Moore's Law." Thus it comes as a welcome relief to "we need more transistors!" when we see such a finding as Jinlun Zhang's Sea ice properties in high?resolution sea ice models, where it appears to be the case that ever-finer resolution does not continue to produce results with productively higher fidelity. The abstract:
An Arctic sea ice–ocean model is run with three uniform horizontal resolutions (6, 4, and 2 km) and identical sea ice and ocean model parameterizations, including an isotropic viscous?plastic (VP) sea ice rheology, a mechanical ice strength parameterization, and an ice ridging parameterization. Driven by the same atmospheric forcing, the three model versions all produce similar spatial patterns and temporal variations of ice thickness and motion fields, resulting in almost identical magnitude and seasonal evolution of total ice volume and mean ice concentration, ice speed, and fractions of ice of various thickness categories over the Arctic Ocean. Increasing model resolution from 6 to 2 km does not significantly improve model performance when compared to NASA IceBridge ice thickness observations. This suggests that the large?scale sea ice properties of the model are insensitive to varying high resolutions within the multifloe scale (2–10 km), and it may be unnecessary to adjust model parameters constantly with increasingly high resolutions. This is also true with models within the aggregate scale (10–75 km), indicating that model parameters used at coarse resolution may be used at high or multi?scale resolution. However, even though the three versions all yield similar mean state of sea ice, they differ in representing anisotropic properties of sea ice. While they produce a basic pattern of major sea ice leads similar to satellite observations, their leads are distributed differently in space and time. Without changing model parameters and sea ice spatiotemporal variability, the 2?km resolution model tends to capture more leads than the other two models.
Physical science of climate change, effects
Unnatural Trend of Global Land Long?term Surface Air Temperature Change
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6961
An updated assessment of near?surface temperature change from 1850: the HadCRUT5 dataset
DOI: 10.1029/2019jd032361
Land surface air temperature variations across the globe updated to 2019: the CRUTEM5 dataset
DOI: 10.1029/2019jd032352
Quantification and interpretation of the climate variability record
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103399
On the Nature of the Arctic's Positive Lapse?rate Feedback
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091109
Warmer, wetter climates accelerate mechanical weathering in field data, independent of stress?loading
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089062
H2O windows and CO2 radiator fins: a clear?sky explanation for the peak in ECS
Open Access DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089609
Spatio?temporal features of storm surge activity and its response to climate change in the southeastern coastal area of China in the past 60 years
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033234
Overestimated acceleration of the advective Brewer–Dobson circulation due to stratospheric cooling
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3876
Observations of climate change, effects
The Northwestern Pacific Warming Record in August 2020 Occurred under Anthropogenic Forcing
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090956
Increase in Compound Drought and Heatwaves in a Warming World
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090617
Spatio?temporal features of storm surge activity and its response to climate change in the southeastern coastal area of China in the past 60 years
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033234
Long-term trend and solar cycle in the middle atmosphere temperature revealed from merged HALOE and SABER datasets
DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2020.105506
Climatology, variability and trends in near?surface wind speeds over the North Atlantic and Europe during 1979–2018 based on ERA5
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/joc.6957
Decreasing control of precipitation on grassland spring phenology in temperate China
DOI: 10.1111/geb.13234
Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects
An updated assessment of near?surface temperature change from 1850: the HadCRUT5 dataset
DOI: 10.1029/2019jd032361
Land surface air temperature variations across the globe updated to 2019: the CRUTEM5 dataset
DOI: 10.1029/2019jd032352
ICESat?2 melt depth retrievals: application to surface melt on Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090550
Satellite Monitoring of Global Surface Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics Using the SMAP Level 4 Carbon Product
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg006100
Fusing simulated GEDI, ICESat-2 and NISAR data for regional aboveground biomass mapping
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2020.112234
Towards a comprehensive understanding of global vegetation CO2 assimilation from space
Towards a better surface radiation budget analysis over sea ice in the high Arctic Ocean: a comparative study between satellite, reanalysis, and local?scale observations
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd032555
Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects MSWE
Emergence of significant soil moisture depletion in the near future
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc6d2
Intensified Humid Heat Events under Global Warming
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091462
Relative Importance of Internal Climate Variability versus Anthropogenic Climate Change in Global Climate Change
DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-20-0424.1
The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF)-30 study on short-lived climate forcers: introduction and overview
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02938-5
Higher mass loss over Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets projected in CMIP6 than CMIP5 by high resolution regional downscaling EC-Earth
Open Access DOI: 10.5194/tc-2020-331 (preprint)
Improved Decadal Predictions of North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre SST in CMIP6
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091307
Simulation of the present and future projection of permafrost on the Qinghai?Tibet Plateau with statistical and machine learning models
Open Access DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033402
Categorization of precipitation changes in China under 1.5 °C and 3 °C global warming using the bivariate joint distribution from a multi-model perspective
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc8bb
Present and future changes in precipitation characteristics during Indian Summer Monsoon in CORDEX?CORE simulations
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6951
Advances in climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection
Understanding Diverse Model Projections of Future Extreme El Niño
DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-19-0969.1
Historical changes in surface soil moisture over the contiguous United States: an assessment of CMIP6
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089991
Sea ice properties in high?resolution sea ice models
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020jc016686
Multivariate Estimations of Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity from Short Transient Warming Simulations
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091090
Improving the ocean and atmosphere in a coupled ocean–atmosphere model by assimilating satellite sea?surface temperature and subsurface profile data
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3885
Assimilating synthetic land surface temperature in a coupled land–atmosphere model
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3883
How an urban parameterization affects a high?resolution global climate simulation
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3874
Partial validation of a lossy compression approach to computing radiative transfer in cloud system?resolving models
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3922
Large Sensitivity of Simulated Indian Monsoon Rainfall (ISMR) to Global Warming: Implications of ISMR Projections
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033511
Cryosphere & climate change
Forecasting the permanent loss of lake ice in the Northern Hemisphere within the 21st century
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091108
The seasonal and regional transition to an ice?free Arctic
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090825
The Presence and Widespread Distribution of Dark Sediment in Greenland Ice Sheet Supraglacial Streams Implies Substantial Impact of Microbial Communities on Sediment Deposition and Albedo
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl088444
Steep glacier bed knickpoints mitigate inland thinning in Greenland
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090112
Complex patterns of Antarctic Ice Sheet Mass Change Resolved by Time?dependent Rate Modeling of GRACE and GRACE Follow?on Observations
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090961
Paleoclimate
Long?term drivers of vegetation turnover in Southern Hemisphere temperate ecosystems
DOI: 10.1111/geb.13232
Biology & climate change
Permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands is rapidly altering forest community composition
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13569
Low potential for evolutionary rescue from climate change in a tropical fish
Global tree-ring analysis reveals rapid decrease in tropical tree longevity with temperature
Ocean-related global change alters lipid biomarker production in common marine phytoplankton
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/bg-17-6287-2020
A growing freshwater lens in the Arctic Ocean with sustained climate warming disrupts marine ecosystem function
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg005693
How Big is Big Enough? Surprising Responses of a Semi?arid Grassland to Increasing Deluge Size
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15479
Responses of ichthyoplankton assemblages to the recent marine heatwave and previous climate fluctuations in several Northeast Pacific marine ecosystems
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15415
Plants with less chlorophyll: A global change perspective
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15470
Discriminating climate, land?cover and random effects on species range dynamics
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15483
Opposing pressures of climate and land?use change on a native bee
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15468
Decadal shift in foraging strategy of a migratory southern ocean predator
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15465
Anthropogenic forcing of fish boldness and its impacts on ecosystem structure
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15473
Quantifying thermal exposure for migratory riverine species: Phenology of Chinook salmon populations predicts thermal stress
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15450
Assessing the strength of climate and land?use influences on montane epiphyte communities
DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13679
Global effects of extreme temperatures on wild bumblebees
Decreasing control of precipitation on grassland spring phenology in temperate China
DOI: 10.1111/geb.13234
GHG sources & sinks, flux
Vertical partitioning of CO2 production in a forest soil
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.01142.x
Lake Morphometry and River Network Controls on Evasion of Terrestrially Sourced Headwater CO2
Changes in Biomass Turnover Times in Tropical Forests and Their Environmental Drivers from 2001 to 2012
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001655
Methane and Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Reservoirs: Controls and Upscaling
DOI: 10.1029/2019jg005474
Satellite Monitoring of Global Surface Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics Using the SMAP Level 4 Carbon Product
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg006100
Methane emissions during different freezing-thawing periods from a fen on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Four years of measurements
DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108279
Fusing simulated GEDI, ICESat-2 and NISAR data for regional aboveground biomass mapping
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2020.112234
Shallow groundwater inhibits soil respiration and favors carbon uptake in a wet alpine meadow ecosystem
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108254
Integrating carbon emission, accumulation and transport in inland waters to understand their role in the global carbon cycle
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15448
Lower soil moisture and deep soil temperatures in thermokarst features increase old soil carbon loss after ten years of experimental permafrost warming
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15481
Methane emissions respond to soil temperature in convergent patterns but divergent sensitivities across wetlands along altitude
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15454
Leaching of dissolved organic carbon from mineral soils plays a significant role in the terrestrial carbon balance
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15460
"Apples and Oranges": On comparing simulated historic near?surface temperature changes with observations
DOI: 10.1002/qj.3871
Foliar fungi and plant diversity drive ecosystem carbon fluxes in experimental prairies
Forest fire induces short?term shifts in soil food webs with consequences for carbon cycling
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13657
CO2 removal & mitigation science & engineering
Impact of quasi?idealized future land cover scenarios at high latitudes in complex terrain
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001838
Dynamic life cycle carbon and energy analysis for cross-laminated timber in the Southeastern United States
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abc5e6
CO2?water?rock interactions in undeformed and sheared claystone caprocks from Northern Europe
Modification of postcombustion CO2 capture process: A techno?economic analysis
Geoengineering climate
Tropical Pacific climate variability under solar geoengineering: impacts on ENSO extremes
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/acp-20-15461-2020
Designing a radiative antidote to CO2
DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504359.1
Black carbon
Responses of Arctic Black Carbon and Surface Temperature to Multi-Region Emission Reductions: an HTAP2 Ensemble Modeling Study
Open Access DOI: 10.5194/acp-2020-1176 (preprint)
Estimates of mass absorption cross sections of black carbon for filter-based absorption photometers in the Arctic
Open Access DOI: 10.5194/acp-2020-1190 (preprint)
A shallow ice core from East Greenland showing a reduction in black carbon during 1990?2016
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2020.11.009
Aerosols
Return to different climate states by reducing sulphate aerosols under future CO2 concentrations
How Asian aerosols impact regional surface temperatures across the globe
Open Access DOI: 10.5194/acp-2020-1029 (preprint)
Climate change communications & cognition
How Believing Climate Change is a “Hoax” Shapes Climate Skepticism in the United States
DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2020.1855884
Exploratory Geovisualization of the Character and Distribution of American Climate Change Beliefs
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0071.1
Water Wars: A “Critical Listening In” to Rural Radio Discourse on a River System in Trouble
DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2020.1837901
Risk Here vs. Risk There: Intention to Seek Information About Gulf Coastal Erosion
DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2020.1853582
Agronomy & climate change
Farm-level land use responses to climate change among smallholder farmers in northern Benin, West Africa
DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2020.1844129
Africa Would Need to Import More Maize in the Future Even under 1.5°C Warming Scenario
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001574
Economics & finance of climate change & mitigation
Balancing climate and development goals
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abbe46
Economic Valuation of Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) Projections in the United States in Response to Climate Change
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0036.1
Calculation of external climate costs for food highlights inadequate pricing of animal products
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19474-6
Climate change and development in South Africa: the impact of rising temperatures on economic productivity and labour availability
DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2020.1857675
Green finance and the restructuring of the oil-gas-coal business model under carbon asset stranding constraints
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.112055
Climate change mitigation public policy research
Beyond shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and representative concentration pathways (RCPs): climate policy implementation scenarios for Europe, the US and China
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1852068
Climate change impacts on human health
Recent Trends in Heat-Related Mortality in the United States: An Update through 2018
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0083.1
Susceptible host availability modulates climate effects on dengue dynamics
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13652
Economic Valuation of Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) Projections in the United States in Response to Climate Change
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0036.1
Intensified Humid Heat Events under Global Warming
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091462
How climate change interacts with inequity to affect nutrition
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/wcc.696
Impact of prior and projected climate change on US Lyme disease incidence
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1101/2020.01.31.929380
Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research
Climate change for coastal areas: Risks, adaptation and acceptability
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2020.11.012
Alternative Entry Points for Adaptation: Examples from Vanuatu
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0064.1
Overcoming gender inequality for climate resilient development
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19856-w
Trusted land: land deals, climate vulnerability and adaptation in Northern Mozambique
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2020.1852909
Beyond binary outcomes in climate adaptation: The illustrative case of desalination
DOI: 10.1002/wcc.695
Climate change impacts on human culture
Assessing Aircraft Performance in a Warming Climate
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-20-0098.1
Africa Would Need to Import More Maize in the Future Even under 1.5°C Warming Scenario
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001574
Other
A spatial model for return values of warm extremes in the high Arctic
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/qj.3877
Impacts of large?scale Sahara solar farms on global climate and vegetation cover
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090789
Epistemological limitations of Earth system science to confront the Anthropocene crisis
DOI: 10.1177/2053019620978430
Leaf traits predict global patterns in the structure and flammability of forest litter beds
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13561
Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives
Once upon a time, in AmeriFlux
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020jg006148
An assessment of the performance of scenarios against historical global emissions for IPCC reports
DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102199
Introductory article: technology, innovations, and environmental sustainability in the Anthropocene
DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2020.12.001
Beyond good intentions, to urgent action: Former UNFCCC leaders take stock of thirty years of international climate change negotiations
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1860567
We live in a changing world, but that shouldn’t mean we abandon the concept of equilibrium
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13629
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