The Met Office Unified Model Global Atmosphere 6.0/6.1 and JULES Global Land 6.0/6.1 configurations

Walters, D., Brooks, M., Boutle, I., Melvin, T., Stratton, R., Vosper, S., Wells, H., Williams, K., Wood, N., Allen, T., Bushell, A., Copsey, D., Earnshaw, P., Edwards, J., Gross, M., Hardiman, S., Harris, C., Heming, J., Klingaman, N., Levine, R., Manners, J., Martin, G., Milton, S., Mittermaier, M., Morcrette, C., Riddick, T., Roberts, M., Sanchez, C., Selwood, P., Stirling, A., Smith, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5911-5836, Suri, D., Tennant, W., Vidale, P. L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1800-8460, Wilkinson, J., Willett, M., Woolnough, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0500-8514 and Xavier, P. (2017) The Met Office Unified Model Global Atmosphere 6.0/6.1 and JULES Global Land 6.0/6.1 configurations. Geoscientific Model Development, 10 (4). pp. 1487-1520. ISSN 1991-959X doi: 10.5194/gmd-10-1487-2017

Abstract/Summary

We describe Global Atmosphere 6.0 and Global Land 6.0: the latest science configurations of the Met Office Unified Model and JULES land surface model developed for use across all timescales. Global Atmosphere 6.0 includes the ENDGame dynamical core, which significantly increases mid-latitude variability improving a known model bias. Alongside developments of the model’s physical parametrisations, ENDGame also increases variability in the tropics, which leads to an improved representation of tropical cyclones and other tropical phenomena. Further developments of the atmospheric and land surface parametrisations improve other aspects of model performance, including the forecasting of surface weather phenomena. We also describe Global Atmosphere 6.1 and Global Land 6.1, which include a small number of long-standing differences from our main trunk configurations that we continue to require for operational global weather prediction. Since July 2014, GA6.1/GL6.1 has been used by the Met Office for operational global NWP, whilst GA6.0/GL6.0 was implemented in its remaining global prediction systems over the following year.