Sun, R., A. C. Subramanian, A. J. Miller, M. R. Mazloff, I. Hoteit and B. D. Cornuelle, 2019:



SKRIPS v1.0: A regional coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling framework (MITgcm-WRF) using ESMF/NUOPC, description and preliminary results for the Red Sea


Geoscientific Model Development, 12, 4221-4244.

Abstract. A new regional coupled ocean-atmosphere model is developed and its implementation is presented in this paper. The coupled model is based on two open-source community model components: (1) MITgcm ocean model; (2) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmosphere model. The coupling between these components is performed using ESMF (Earth System Modeling Framework) and implemented according to National United Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC) protocols. The coupled model is named the Scripps-KAUST Regional Integrated Prediction System (SKRIPS). The SKRIPS is demonstrated with a real-world example by simulating a 30-day period including a series of extreme heat events occurring on the eastern shore of the Red Sea region in June 2012. The results obtained by using the coupled model, along with those in forced stand-alone oceanic or atmospheric simulations, are compared with observational data and reanalysis products. We show that the coupled model is capable of performing coupled ocean-atmosphere simulation, although all configurations of coupled and uncoupled models have good skill in modeling the heat events. In addition, a scalability test is performed to investigate the parallelization of the coupled model. The results indicate that the coupled model code scales well and the ESMF/NUOPC coupler accounts for less than 5% of the total computational resources in the Red Sea test case. The coupled model and documentation are available at https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/collection/bb1847661c, and the source code is maintained at https://github.com/iurnus/scripps_kaust_model.

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