Next Generation Model – UKESM2.0

UKESM2.0 will be the next generation UK Earth System Model that will be used in a future CMIP and beyond. It continues to be developed as a collaborative activity involving the Met Office, NERC centres and academic and Unified Model partners.

Developments for UKESM2.0 are largely driven by Earth system science questions around the feasibility of the Paris Agreement temperature target, climate mitigation options (and associated co-benefits) to achieve this and the societal and ecosystem risks if not achieved.

UKESM2 will be used to investigate the risks and impacts of rapid and potentially irreversible change in key Earth system phenomena such as Antarctic ice sheet collapse, loss of tropical forests or abrupt changes in ocean circulation and marine ecosystems. Other key focus areas include understanding the role of land-use and near-term climate forcers in climate mitigation, in particular methane (CH₄).

UKESM2 will be built on the HadGEM3 Global Coupled 5.0 (GC5) configuration and will have the same resolution as UKESM1 in its standard configuration (N96ORCA1). While GC5 is largely frozen, the N96ORCA1 configuration used in many climate applications, including UKESM, is not and tuning is on-going.