Description and evaluation of the Diat-HadOCC model v1.0: The ocean biogeochemical component of HadGEM2-ES

Abstract

The Diat-HadOCC model (version 1.0) is presented. A simple marine ecosystem model with coupled equations representing the marine carbon cycle, it formed the ocean biogeochemistry sub-model in the Met Office's HadGEM2-ES Earth system model. The equations are presented and described in full, along with the underlying assumptions, and particular attention is given to how they were implemented for the CMIP5 simulations. Results from the CMIP5 historical simulation (particularly those for the simulated 1990s) are shown and compared to data: dissolved nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon, as well as biological components, productivity and fluxes. Where possible, the amplitude and phase of the predicted seasonal cycle are evaluated. Since the model was developed to explore and predict the effects of climate change on the marine ecosystem and marine carbon cycle, the response of the model to the RCP8.5 future scenario is also shown. While the model simulates the historical and current global annual mean air-sea CO2 flux well and is consistent with other modelling studies about how that flux will change under future scenarios, several of the ecosystem metrics are less well simulated. The total chlorophyll is higher than observations, while the primary productivity is just below the estimated range. In the CMIP5 simulations certain parameter choices meant that the diatoms and the misc-phytoplankton state variables behave more similarly than they should, and the surface dissolved silicate concentration drifts to excessively high levels. The main structural problem with the model is shown to be the iron sub-model.