Interannual Variability of Global Oceans Simulated by the High-resolution UCLA-POP Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean GCM

A global, high-resolution, and parallel coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) has been developed in a collaboration between University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This Global UCLA-POP CGCM consists of the UCLA atmospheric GCM (AGCM) and LANL's Parallel Ocean Program (POP) oceanic GCM (OGCM).

The AGCM covers the global atmosphere and has a horizontal resolution of 2.5 degree in longitude and 2 degree in latitude. The OGCM covers the global ocean between 70N and 70S, and has a latitudinal resolution of 1/3 degree between 10S and 10N and 2/3 degree elsewhere. The longitudinal resolution is 1 degree. Both models include advanced parameterizations of the major physical processes in the atmosphere and ocean and have been parallellized for high computational performance. CGCM integrations are performed on a 1-TeraOp peak speed SGI Origin 2000 system at LANL. In this paper, we will present the simulated seasonal cycle and interannual variability in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and compare them with observations. We will also discuss the potential scientific applications on assessing climate and variability of the ocean using this newly developed coupled model.