Inconsistent strategies to spin up models in CMIP5: implications for ocean biogeochemical model performance assessment

Abstract

Abstract. During the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) substantial efforts were carried out on the systematic assessment of the skill of Earth system models. One goal was to check how realistically representative marine biogeochemical tracer distributions could be reproduced by models. Mean-state assessments routinely compared model hindcasts to available modern biogeochemical observations. However, these assessments considered neither the extent of equilibrium in modeled biogeochemical reservoirs nor the sensitivity of model performance to initial conditions or to the spin-up protocols. Here, we explore how the large diversity in spin-up protocols used for marine biogeochemistry in CMIP5 Earth system models (ESM) contribute to model-to-model differences in the simulated fields. We take advantage of a 500 year spin-up simulation of IPSL-CM5A-LR to quantify the influence of the spin-up protocol on model ability to reproduce relevant data fields. Amplification of biases in selected biogeochemical fields (O2, NO3, Alk-DIC) is assessed as a function of spin-up duration. We demonstrate that a relationship between spin-up duration and assessment metrics emerges from our model results and is consistent when confronted against a larger ensemble of CMIP5 models. This shows that drift has implications on their performance assessment in addition to possibly aliasing estimates of climate change impact. Our study suggests that differences in spin-up protocols could explain a substantial part of model disparities, constituting a source of model-to-model uncertainty. This requires more attention in future model intercomparison exercices in order to provide realistic ESM results on marine biogeochemistry and carbon cycle feedbacks.