The National Center for Atmospheric Research,
established in 1960, initiated a GCM effort in 1964 under Akira
Kasahara and Warren Washington.
Two different model series were eventually constructed, designated
here as NCAR 1-3 and CCM 0-2.
The first-generation NCAR GCM was developed
starting in 1964, with first publication in 1967. It was a simple
2-layer global model with a 5° horizontal resolution.
The second-generation model, completed around 1970, added a great
deal of flexibility. The basic model had a 5° horizontal,
6-layer resolution, but it could also be run at resolutions as fine
as 0.625° horizontal over a limited domain, with up to 24
vertical layers.
NCAR 3, finished about 1973, also allowed multiple resolutions,
including a user-specifiable vertical increment. The most significant
changes, however, involved improved finite-difference schemes.
The Kasahara/Washington group focused a great deal of attention on
numerical schemes for finite-difference approximations. In addition,
a great deal of work was done on problems of computational error
arising from truncation.[1]
In the latter part of the 1970s, the National
Center for Atmospheric Research gradually abandoned the
Kasahara/Washington model. In its place, NCAR developed a Community
Climate Model (CCM), intended to serve not only modelers working at
NCAR, but the large constituency of affiliated universities
associated with NCAR's parent organization, the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research. The Community Climate Model was
initially based on the Australian Numerical Meteorological Research
Center model and an early version of the ECMWF model. It also
incorporated elements of the GFDL models.
The NCAR CCM series of models was especially important because of the
relatively large community of researchers who were able to use it.
Versions of the model were adopted by a number of other groups in the
late 1980s. This was made possible by NCAR's strong focus on
documentation and modularity. User manuals and code documentation
were made available for all elements of the models starting with
CCM-0B.
CCM-0A
The initial version of the Community Climate Model was based on the spectral model of the Australian Numerical Meteorological Research Centre. One member of the ANMRC team (K. Puri) brought the model to NCAR during an extended visit. Later, it was extensively revised.[2]
CCM-0B: A Combined Forecast and Climate Simulation Model
A second version of the Community Climate Model was developed in 1981. This model's guiding purpose was "NCAR's decision to utilize the same basic code for global forecast studies (both medium- and long-range) and for climate simulation. Economy and increased efficiency could then be achieved by documenting and maintaining only one set of codes. Changes from one application to the other could be relatively straightforward in a model with modular design. The use of one basic model for both forecasting and climate studies has potential scientific value since a major part of long-range (one- to two-week) forecast errors is due to the drift toward a model climate which differs from that of the atmosphere. Thus, improvements in the climate aspects of the model should lead to improvements in forecasts."[3]
CCM-0B was designed to include the best elements of other existing models. Initial code for CCM-0B came from an early version of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts model. Physical parameterizations, including the radiation and cloud routines of Ramanathan, and numerical approximations were added from CCM-0A.[4] Energy balance and flux prescriptions from the early GFDL models were incorporated, while the finite difference scheme was derived from the Australian spectral model that was the basis for CCM-0A.[5]CCM-1
CCM-1 evolved from CCM-0B in the mid-1980s. The primary differences were changed parameterizations, new horizontal and vertical diffusion schemes, and changes to moisture adjustment and condensation schemes.
NCAR Home Page
NCAR Climate Modeling Section (CMS)
[1]
A. Kasahara and W.M. Washington, "NCAR Global General Circulation
Model of the Atmosphere," Monthly Weather Review, July 1967,
389-402.
[2]
W. Bourke et al., "Global Modeling of Atmospheric Flow by Spectral
Methods," in General Circulation Models of the Atmosphere,
Methods in Computational Physics: Advances in Research and
Applications (San Francisco: Academic Press, 1977), 267-324.
[3]
D.L. Williamson et al., "Description of NCAR Community Climate Model
(CCM1)," (National Center for Atmospheric Research, 1987).
[4]
V. Ramanathan et al., "The Response of a Spectral General Circulation
Model to Refinements in Radiative Processes," Journal of
Atmospheric Sciences 40 (1983): 605-630.
[5]
D.L. Williamson et al., "Description of NCAR Community Climate Model
(CCM1)," (National Center for Atmospheric Reasearch,
1987).