The scientific model domain descriptions are defined for CMIP6 via “specializations” which define the properties needed to have a configured model. They are organised following the eight official CMIP6 realms (see PCMDI github repository) – aerosols, atmosphere, atmospheric chemistry, land ice, land surface, ocean, ocean biogeochemistry, sea-ice – plus one top level specialization. These specializations constrain the basic CIM2 Model documents for these particular realms (by adding or removing properties as needed). These specializations are defined and governed by ES-DOC realm experts who interact with the scientific community, and include several levels of reviews. This approach clearly separates the concepts encapsulated in the CIM from the specific CMIP6 activity. Short tables are extracted from these realms to form standard documentation tables in published papers about models.
Tooling Chain
The specialization files are written in python which act as inputs to a set of code generators that emit artefacts such as:
- HTML and mind-maps (for visualization purposes);
- JSON files (for configuration purposes);
- Spreadsheets (for documentation creation purposes);
Review Process
The review process for each realm is as follows:
- Start from CMIP5 version and update with a few experts (version 0.X);
- Organise review by community at large and include feedbacks (Phase 1 until May 15th, phase 2 until Oct 10th 2017, phase 3 until Dec 10th 2017)
- Official release of version 1.0 for CMIP6 operational use (1st Jan 2018);
- Correct any major error by 1st March 2018 (version 1.1);
- Freeze for rest of CMIP6.
Further Information
The following table lists the 8+1 CMIP6 specializations, their status, links to HTML viewer, interactive mindmaps or actual python files and a review/comments shared document open to all.
| Realm | Contact | Version | HTML | Python | Feedback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top-Level | David Hassell | 1.0.2 | Link | Link | Link |
| Aerosols | David Hassell | 1.0.2 | Link | Link | Link |
| Atmosphere | Charlotte Pascoe | 1.0.2 | Link | Link | Link |
| Atmospheric Chemistry | David Hassell | 1.0.0 | Link | Link | Link |
| Land Ice | David Hassell | 1.0.1 | Link | Link | Link |
| Land Surface | David Hassell | 1.0.1 | Link | Link | Link |
| Ocean | Eric Guilyardi | 1.0.4 | Link | Link | Link |
| Ocean Bio Geo-Chemistry | Eric Guilyardi | 1.0.3 | Link | Link | Link |
| Sea-Ice | Ruth Petrie | 1.0.2 | Link | Link | Link |