The biogeochemical evaluation toolkit, BGC-val,
is a model- and grid-independent Python toolkit that has been
built to evaluate marine biogeochemical models using a simple
interface. Here, we present the ideas that motivated the
development of the BGC-val software framework, introduce
the code structure, and show some applications of the toolkit
using model results from the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison
Project (CMIP5). A brief outline of how to access
and install the repository is presented in Appendix A, but the
specific details on how to use the toolkit are kept in the code
repository.
The key ideas that directed the toolkit design were model
and grid independence, front-loading analysis functions and
regional masking, interruptibility, and ease of use. We
present each of these goals, why they were important, and
what we did to address them. We also present an outline of
the code structure of the toolkit illustrated with example plots
produced by the toolkit.
After describing BGC-val, we use the toolkit to investigate
the performance of the marine physical and biogeochemical
quantities of the CMIP5 models and highlight some predictions
about the future state of the marine ecosystem under a
business-as-usual CO2 concentration scenario (RCP8.5)