Style Guide for Variable Titles in CMIP6

The variable titles (which appear in the NetCDF files as values for the “long_name” attribute) should be short phrases that describe the variable at a level of detail suitable for the title of a figure or table. This document sets out some styling rules

The direct inversion method for data assimilation using isentropic tracer advection

International audienceA new data assimilation algorithm is applied to MIPAS and SBUV measurements of stratospheric ozone. The results are validated against HALOE, POAM III, SAGE II and III, OSIRIS and ozonesonde data. The new assimilation algorithm has the accuracy of the Kalman smoother but is, for the systems studied here with up to 200 000 variables per time step and 61 million control variables in total, many orders of magnitude less computationally expensive. The analysis produced minimises a single penalty function evaluated over an analysis window of over one month. The cost of the analysis is found to increase nearly linearly with the number of control variables. Compared with 850 profiles from Electrochemical Concentration Cell sondes at 29 sites the analysis is found to be merely 0.1% high at 420 K, rising to 0.4% at 650 K (813 sonde profiles). Comparison against the other satellites imply that the bias remains small up to 1250 K (38 km) and then increases to around ?10% at 1650 K (44 km). Between 20 and 35 km the root-mean-square difference relative to HALOE, SAGE II and III, and POAM is in the 5 to 10% range, with larger discrepancies relative to other instruments. Outside this height range rms differences are generally larger, though agreement with HALOE remains good up to 50 km

Evaluation of MIPAS ozone fields assimilated using a new algorithm constrained by isentropic tracer advection

A new data assimilation algorithm, using the isentropic advection equation, is applied to MIPAS and SBUV measurements of stratospheric ozone. The system is solved separately on each isentropic level, with neither vertical advection nor chemical reactions represented. The results are validated against HALOE, POAM III, SAGE II & III, OSIRIS and ozone sonde data. The new assimilation algorithm has the accuracy of the Kalman smoother but is, for the systems studied here with up to 200 000 variables per time step and 61 million control variables in total, many orders of magnitude less computationally expensive. The analysis produced minimises a single penalty function evaluated over an analysis window of over one month. The cost of the analysis is found to increase nearly linearly with the number of control variables. Compared with over 800 profiles from Electrochemical Concentration Cell sondes at 29 sites the analysis is found to be merely 0.1% high at 420 K, rising to 0.4% at 650 K. Comparison against the other satellites imply that the bias remains small up to 1250 K (38 km) and then increases to around −10% at 1650 K (44 km). Between 20 and 35 km the root-mean-square difference relative to HALOE, SAGE II & III, and POAM is in the 5 to 10% range, with larger discrepancies relative to other instruments. Outside this height range rms differences are generally larger, though agreement with HALOE remains good up to 50 km. The assimilation has closer agreement to independent observations than found in direct near-neighbour comparisons between profiles, demonstrating that the assimilation can add value to the observations

Documenting numerical experiments in support of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6)

Numerical simulation, and in particular simulation of the earth system, relies on contributions from diverse communities, from those who develop models to those involved in devising, executing, and analysing numerical experiments. Often these people work in different institutions and may be working with significant separation in time (particularly analysts, who may be working on data produced years earlier), and they typically communicate via published information (whether journal papers, technical notes, or websites). The complexity of the models, experiments, and methodologies, along with the diversity (and sometimes inexact nature) of information sources, can easily lead to misinterpretation of what was actually intended or done. In this paper we introduce a taxonomy of terms for more clearly defining numerical experiments, put it in the context of previous work on experimental ontologies, and describe how we have used it to document the experiments of the sixth phase for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). We describe how, through iteration with a range of CMIP6 stakeholders, we rationalized multiple sources of information and improved the clarity of experimental definitions. We demonstrate how this process has added value to CMIP6 itself by (a) helping those devising experiments to be clear about their goals and their implementation, (b) making it easier for those executing experiments to know what is intended, (c) exposing interrelationships between experiments, and (d) making it clearer for third parties (data users) to understand the CMIP6 experiments. We conclude with some lessons learnt and how these may be applied to future CMIP phases as well as other modelling campaigns

Meniscus Volume 4 Issue 2

Meniscus is a literary journal, published and supported by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) with editors from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The title of the journal was the result of a visit made by two of the editors to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, where James Turrell’s extraordinary installation, ‘Within without’ (2010), led them to think about how surfaces, curves, tension and openness interact. In particular, they were struck by the way in which the surface of the water features, and the uncertainty of the water’s containment, seems to analogise the excitement and anxiety inherent in creative practice, and the delicate balance between possibility and impossibility that is found in much good writing

Bringing the Global Climate Projections Archive to UK Researchers

Looking at the CMIP5 archive, the contribution from CEDA and looking at the next stage of CMIP6

Ulrich Schreier und seine Werkstatt

Ulrich Schreier leitete in der zweiten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts eine sehr langlebige, leistungsfähige und nicht durchgängig ortsfeste Werkstatt, in der rund 200 geschriebene und gedruckte Bücher mit Buchschmuck ausgestattet bzw. in kunstvoll gestaltete Einbände gebunden wurden. Für seine Buchkunst weithin bekannt, arbeitete er für eine breit gefächerte Käuferschicht, die sich zum großen Teil aus reichen Bürgern und Angehörigen sowohl des hohen als auch des niederen Klerus rekrutierte. Die finanziellen Möglichkeiten dieser Kunden spiegeln sich in der Gestaltung der Einbände und des Buchschmuckes ebenso wider wie ihre ästhetischen Vorlieben. Erstmals tritt Schreier in den Matrikeln der Universität Wien in Erscheinung, wo er sich im April 1450 inskribierte. Den Anfang seines künstlerischen Wirkens dokumentieren drei 1457 geschaffene und dem Benediktinerkloster Admont in der Steiermark gestiftete Handschriften; seine späten, zwischen 1481 und dem Ende seiner Karriere um 1490 datierbaren Werke entstanden in Wien, wo er auch Geschäftsverbindungen nach Pressburg entwickelte und offenbar weiterhin berufliche Kontakte zu seinen früheren Kunden pflegte. Dazwischen arbeitete er in seiner Heimatstadt Salzburg. Hier sicherten ihm Bürger, Klöster und Geistliche, darunter der bibliophile Salzburger Erzbischof Bernhard von Rohr, für etwa 20 Jahre guten Absatz. Gemeinsam mit den erhaltenen Schriftquellen bilden die in Schreiers Atelier entstandenen Werke die Grundlage der vorliegenden Untersuchung, die eine zusammenfassende Gesamtdarstellung und ausführliche Analyse von Schreiers breit gefächertem Wirkungsfeld bietet und seit Heinz Zirnbauers 1927 erschienener Monographie die einzige eingehende wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Werk dieser vielseitigen Persönlichkeit ist. Im Fokus der Untersuchungen stehen die an den Arbeiten Schreiers zu beobachtende Wechselwirkung zwischen Kunden, Künstler und Werk sowie die Rezeption druckgraphischer Vorlagen, die es den Buchmalern ermöglichte, unter Einhaltung eines hohen Qualitätsniveaus den Herstellungsprozess zu beschleunigen. Breites Feld wird auch der einheitlichen Gestaltung des Buches eingeräumt, zumal Schreier über die Illuminierung hinaus auch die Einbände und Buchschnitte künstlerisch gestaltete. Schließlich wird die Frage nach dem Ende des Betriebes und die Ausstrahlung von Schreiers Werk auf andere Buchkünstler gestellt, lebte doch sowohl Schreiers malerische als auch einbandkünstlerische Arbeit in der Kunst vieler Illuminatoren und Buchbinder weiter.The illuminator, Ulrich Schreier, can be traced in Salzburg, Vienna and Bratislava between 1457 and 1490. Three of his main works are signed and reveal the fore- and surnames of the book painter, making him one of the few fifteenth-century illuminators in Central Europe who can be identified firmly with a historical person. Born in Salzburg, Schreier was the leader of a workshop that, as printed books first came onto the market in substantial numbers, illuminated both hand-written texts and printed codices. The workshop also specialised in the production of decorative bindings, which formed a second pillar of, and source of income for, the enterprise. In total more than 200 works can be attributed to Schreier and his assistants, of which a large part was discovered through research for the present dissertation. Along with the written sources these form the basis of my investigation, which seeks to provide both a summarising account and detailed analysis of Schreier’s sphere of operations. Since Heinz Zirnbauer’s 1927 monograph, this represents the first work dedicated to the career and life of a multi-faceted personality. The first documentary trace of Schreier comes from the matriculation register of Vienna University, where he was inscribed in April 1450. From 1462 at the latest, Schreier worked in Salzburg, where he was active for around two decades for various patrons, particularly the Archbishop of Salzburg, Bernhard von Rohr. When the latter was forced by Emperor Frederick III to resign, it also marked the end of Schreier’s Salzburg career. He left his hometown and established himself in Vienna and Bratislava, where patrons from university and clerical circles ensured him a profitable market. Schreier’s works are commissions whose form was largely determined by the financial means, practical requirements, individual wishes and aesthetic preferences of a broad and differentiated patronal class. These interactions between patron and artist represent a central question of the present investigation. A further focal point is the Schreier atelier’s adoption of forms from printed works. Around 40 miniatures or figurative initials from Schreier’s oeuvre are based on copper engravings, whose reception ensured a high quality of design and accelerated the production process. Since Schreier’s atelier specialised not only in the illumination of texts, but also created artistic bindings, the illuminators were able to employ a similar range of motives for book decoration and binding, thus giving the codices a uniform appearance. For this reason, the question of binding is treated in detail, particularly with regard to the design of books according to a coherent aesthetic concept. A final area is the end of Schreier’s enterprise and his impact on other book artists. His ideas lived on in the work of other illuminators and bookbinders, both in terms of figurative painting and binding. In connection with the text, an extensive volume of illustrations as well as a work catalogue should create an overview of Schreier’s career, whilst offering more detailed insights into each individually created work of the illuminator and binder

The CMIP6 Data Request (DREQ, version 01.00.31)

The data request of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) defines all the quantities from CMIP6 simulations that should be archived. This includes both quantities of general interest needed from most of the CMIP6-endorsed model intercomparison projects (MIPs) and quantities that are more specialized and only of interest to a single endorsed MIP. The complexity of the data request has increased from the early days of model intercomparisons, as has the data volume. In contrast with CMIP5, CMIP6 requires distinct sets of highly tailored variables to be saved from each of the more than 200 experiments. This places new demands on the data request information base and leads to a new requirement for development of software that facilitates automated interrogation of the request and retrieval of its technical specifications. The building blocks and structure of the CMIP6 Data Request (DREQ), which have been constructed to meet these challenges, are described in this paper