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WACCM-X

Sample template image
WACCM-X simulation of the "April Fools" geomagnetic storm in 2001, showing the global electron column density in units of 10^12 cm^-2. Note the "tongue of ionization" extending out of both the north and south auroral regions into the dayside low-latitudes, and the highly distorted equatorial ionosphere.

The Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension (WACCM-X) is a comprehensive numerical model, spanning the range of altitude from the Earth’s surface to the upper thermosphere.

The scientific goals of the model include studying solar impacts on the Earth atmosphere, couplings between atmosphere layers through chemical, physical and dynamical processes, and the implications of the coupling for the climate and for the near space environment. The development of the model is inter-divisional collaboration that unifies certain aspects of the upper atmospheric modeling of HAO, the middle atmosphere modeling of ACOM, and the tropospheric modeling of CGD, using the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) as a common numerical framework.

Overview:

More Information:

    • WACCM-X information and tutorials at CESM:

CESM main page
CESM quick start guide
WACCM-X Compsets
CESM/WACCM-X description

    • Whole Atmosphere Working Group:

http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/working_groups/Whole-Atmosphere/

    • WACCM at ACOM:

https://www2.acom.ucar.edu/gcm/waccm

    • Sign up for WACCM-X Mailing list

https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/modeling/waccm-x/mailing-list

News and Updates:

    • WACCM-X v. 2.0, with fully-interactive ionosphere, is released as part of the Community Earth System Model, v. 2.0, June 2018.

Release Notes for WACCM-X v.2.0
http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm2 
http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm2/whatsnew.html

    • 15-year run of WACCM-X with specified dynamics forcing available for analysis

https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/modeling/waccm-x/runs

Recent Workshops and Symposia:

    • CEDAR Workshop 2018

Hanli Liu's CEDAR Prize Lecture

    • Whole Atmosphere Modeling Workshop, June 13-15, 2018

http://www.elecnor-deimos.com/wam-workshop-2018/

 

    • Whole Atmosphere Working Group Meeting, Feb. 12–14, 2018

http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/events/wg-meetings/2018/am.html

    • WACCM-X Users Group tutorial session at the CEDAR Workshop, June 22, 2017

http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2017_Workshop:WACCM_X_Users_Group

    • Whole Atmosphere Variability session at the CEDAR Workshop, June 22, 2017

http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2017_Workshop:Whole_Atmosphere_Variability

    • Whole Atmosphere Working Group meeting at the CESM Workshop, June 20, 2017

http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/events/workshops/ws.2017/

Recent Publications:

WACCM-X Highlights:

Temperature differences between the eclipse and baseline simulations
Simulation of the August 21, 2017 Solar Eclipse using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model—eXtended
February 7, 2018

Joseph McInerney and others, use a computer model called the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model - eXtended (WACCM-X v. 2.0) to investigate what happens to the atmosphere from the surface of Earth up to space during the “Great American Eclipse” of 21 August 2017.

Comparisons of hmF2
First Results from the Ionospheric Extension of WACCM-X during the Deep Solar Minimum Year of 2008
February 7, 2018

The Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension (WACCM-X) is a numerical model of the

Model calculations
Whole Atmosphere Simulation of Anthropogenic Climate Change
February 2, 2018

Stan Solomon and others have performed the first whole-atmosphere simulations of global change that include the lower atmosphere (0-15 km), middle atmosphere (15-90 km), thermosphere-ionosphere (90-500 km), and all relevant physics and chemistry.

Zonal-mean vertical profiles of hydrogen
Temporal Variability of Atomic Hydrogen From the Mesopause to the Upper Thermosphere
January 24, 2018

Liying Qian et al investigate atomic hydrogen (H) variability from the mesopause to the upper thermosphere, on time scales of solar cycle, seasonal, and diurnal.

Total electron content (TEC)
Analysis and Hindcast Experiments of the 2009 Sudden Stratospheric Warming in WACCMX+DART
December 7, 2017

Plain Language Summary or Abstract: Whole atmosphere models offer the opportunity to improve specification and forecasting of the upper atmosphere through incorporating the effects of forcing from both the lower atmosphere as well as the Sun.

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The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.