Three European models (the CNRM ARPEGE model, the MPI ECHAM4 model, and the UKMO Unified Model), each having a horizontal resolution of around 100 km, have been used for 10-year simulations of the present climate. This proposal follows on from the AMIP program coordinated at the international level but performed with lower resolution models. As was the case for AMIP, boundary conditions have been be provided by the observed sea surface temperatures for the period 1979-1988.
On the global scale, the simulated fields are compared with ECMWF reanalyses, and also with fields obtained from a similar experiment, but with a standard resolution of 300 km. Indeed, two of the models use the same spectral truncation (T106) as the reanalysis.
The task undertaken has been the C1, i.e., the global validation of the ARPEGE model over the Northern Hemisphere.