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Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)

Derived from the necessity to more thoroughly understand the role that horizontal resolution plays in the performance of climate modelling, this minor-dissertation describes the development and initial testing of a High-Resolution Sea Ice Diagnostics Toolset. This is designed to evaluate the influen...

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Main Author: Carver, Cameron
Other Authors: Vichi, Marcello
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Department of Oceanography 2026
Subjects:
Sea ice
Climate Model Intercomparison Project
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access_status_str Open Access
author Carver, Cameron
author2 Vichi, Marcello
author_browse Carver, Cameron
Vichi, Marcello
author_facet Vichi, Marcello
Carver, Cameron
author_sort Carver, Cameron
collection Thesis
description Derived from the necessity to more thoroughly understand the role that horizontal resolution plays in the performance of climate modelling, this minor-dissertation describes the development and initial testing of a High-Resolution Sea Ice Diagnostics Toolset. This is designed to evaluate the influence increased horizontal resolution has on the ability of high-resolution climate models to recreate Antarctic sea ice behaviour. Analysis is conducted through the calculation and visualisation of a defined univariate performance metric, referencing a single user defined satellite-derived observational dataset. Developed in Python, cloud-ready datasets and computing capabilities are utilized to eliminate the need for local download of large model datasets and extensive computational capacity. Temporal mean metric values are produced and visualized, providing easy visual analysis of regional model performance for each respective temporal grouping. Spatial mean metric values for each month produce a time series that reveal performance trends. Distributions of these values give insight into the model performance for particular seasons and months. Sensitivity analysis functionality enables the assessment of model performance for specified ranges of observed sea ice concentration values. A preliminary assessment is conducted to substantiate the value of the toolset products. Results indicate alignment with findings of Selivanova et al. (2024) where only marginal improvement in model performance is seen with increased resolution for the models assessed. Additionally, sensitivity analysis results highlight the shortcomings of all assessed models in recreating Antarctic sea ice behaviour across the marginal ice zone. Integration of cloud-ready datasets and cloud computing sees significant reduction in time and increased functionality. While the scope of this minor dissertation limits the depth of analysis, the toolset developed here is shown to provide useful insights into the role of horizontal resolution and establishes backbone from which users can generate and visualise univariate metrics for high resolution datasets with minimal local computational load and significantly reduced runtime.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42532
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:26.520Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Department of Oceanography
publisherStr Department of Oceanography
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42532 Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP) Carver, Cameron Vichi, Marcello Iovino, Dorotea Sea ice Climate Model Intercomparison Project Derived from the necessity to more thoroughly understand the role that horizontal resolution plays in the performance of climate modelling, this minor-dissertation describes the development and initial testing of a High-Resolution Sea Ice Diagnostics Toolset. This is designed to evaluate the influence increased horizontal resolution has on the ability of high-resolution climate models to recreate Antarctic sea ice behaviour. Analysis is conducted through the calculation and visualisation of a defined univariate performance metric, referencing a single user defined satellite-derived observational dataset. Developed in Python, cloud-ready datasets and computing capabilities are utilized to eliminate the need for local download of large model datasets and extensive computational capacity. Temporal mean metric values are produced and visualized, providing easy visual analysis of regional model performance for each respective temporal grouping. Spatial mean metric values for each month produce a time series that reveal performance trends. Distributions of these values give insight into the model performance for particular seasons and months. Sensitivity analysis functionality enables the assessment of model performance for specified ranges of observed sea ice concentration values. A preliminary assessment is conducted to substantiate the value of the toolset products. Results indicate alignment with findings of Selivanova et al. (2024) where only marginal improvement in model performance is seen with increased resolution for the models assessed. Additionally, sensitivity analysis results highlight the shortcomings of all assessed models in recreating Antarctic sea ice behaviour across the marginal ice zone. Integration of cloud-ready datasets and cloud computing sees significant reduction in time and increased functionality. While the scope of this minor dissertation limits the depth of analysis, the toolset developed here is shown to provide useful insights into the role of horizontal resolution and establishes backbone from which users can generate and visualise univariate metrics for high resolution datasets with minimal local computational load and significantly reduced runtime. 2026-01-12T11:11:54Z 2026-01-12T11:11:54Z 2025 2026-01-12T11:05:04Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42532 en eng application/pdf Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Sea ice
Climate Model Intercomparison Project
Carver, Cameron
Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
title_full Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
title_fullStr Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
title_full_unstemmed Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
title_short Development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high-resolution simulations of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (HiResMIP)
title_sort development of sea ice diagnostic tools for high resolution simulations of the climate model intercomparison project hiresmip
topic Sea ice
Climate Model Intercomparison Project
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42532
work_keys_str_mv AT carvercameron developmentofseaicediagnostictoolsforhighresolutionsimulationsoftheclimatemodelintercomparisonprojecthiresmip

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