Chinese scientists launch ocean circulation model with 1 km precision

A group of Chinese scientists has jointly developed a global ocean circulation model with a horizontal resolution of one kilometer, Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.

The ocean serves as a crucial regulator of energy and carbon sinks in the Earth's climate system, absorbing over 90 percent of the additional heat from global warming and more than 30 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report.

In recent years, with the increasing frequency of extreme climate events, simulating and understanding mesoscale and sub-mesoscale ocean processes, such as eddies and fronts, has become key to improving the accuracy of climate predictions.

The global ocean circulation model LICOMK++, developed by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Laoshan Laboratory, enables the direct simulation of sub-mesoscale processes in the ocean.

This is akin to embedding a "microscope" into the global "ocean map," allowing for the precise capture of complex dynamical processes such as ocean eddies and fronts.

These fine-scale ocean dynamics directly affect the global transport and distribution of heat and substances and are crucial for understanding and predicting extreme weather events such as marine heatwaves, typhoons and extreme precipitation.

The model provides technological support that facilitates global climate governance and advances sustainable development.

(Cover: Typhoon Yagi approaches the coastal area of ​​Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, south China, September 5, 2024. /VCG)