Presentation
IPSL-CM5A2-VLR is a so-called Earth system model, coupling the NEMO ocean model (2° spatial resolution, 31 vertical levels), the LIM sea ice model, the LMDZ atmosphere model (resolution between 1.8 and 3.5°, 39 vertical levels) and the ORCHIDEE continental surface model. Based on the CMIP5 version of the IPSL model, IPSL-CM5A2 has been implemented with 3 priorities: (1) to improve the overall computational performance of the model, (2) to overcome a persistent cold bias described in the previous generation of the model, and (3) to make the model capable of handling specific continental configurations of the geological past. The model can simulate around 100 years per day and has paved the way for multi-millennial simulations of paleoclimates for many periods of the past, from the Cretaceous to the mid-Holocene.
