Ice and Climate: Polar climate modelling

 

Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2)

Ice and Climate:
Polar climate modelling

Introduction

Data Antarctica

>  Present day

>  Historic

>  21st century

Data Arctic

>  Present day

>  Historic

>  21st century

Data Greenland

>  Present day

>  Historic

>  21st century

Data Ice caps

>  Antarctic Peninsula

>  Canadian Arctic

>  Svalbard

>  Iceland

Introduction

Noel et al., GRL, 2021

Over the years, RACMO has been applied to Antarctica, Greenland, the Arctic and other glacierized regions for different time periods. Below is a list of the most recent runs of which the data is available. The current operational model version is RACMO2.4p1 for Antarctica and the Arctic, and RAMCO2.3p2 for Greenland. Older versions are listed on the archive page.

Data Antarctica

Present day

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXANT11

Resolution:

11 km, 726 x 591 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic continent

Period:

1979-now

Forcing:

ERA5

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Van Dalum et al, 2025: The surface mass balance and near-surface climate of the Antarctic ice sheet in RACMO2.4p1, EGUsphere [preprint], doi: 10.5194/egusphere-2024-3728
 
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Historic

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXANT11

Resolution:

11 km, 726 x 591 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic continent

Period:

1985-2014

Forcing:

CESM2

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Hofsteenge et al. (2025) submitted to The Cryosphere

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXANT11

Resolution:

11 km, 726 x 591 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic continent

Period:

1985-2014

Forcing:

MPI-ESM

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Hofsteenge et al. (2025) submitted to The Cryosphere
 
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21st century

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXANT11

Resolution:

11 km, 726 x 591 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic continent

Period:

2015-2100

Forcing:

CESM2 SSP3-7.0

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Hofsteenge et al. (2025) submitted to The Cryosphere

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXANT11

Resolution:

11 km, 726 x 591 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic continent

Period:

2015-2100

Forcing:

MPI-ESM SSP3-7.0

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Hofsteenge et al. (2025) submitted to The Cryosphere
 
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Data Arctic

Present day

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXARC11

Resolution:

11 km, 650 x 646 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Arctic

Period:

1960-now

Forcing:

ERA5

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • In preparation
 
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Historic

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXARC11

Resolution:

11 km, 650 x 646 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Arctic

Period:

1985-2014

Forcing:

CNRM

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • In preparation
 
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21st century

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   PXARC11

Resolution:

11 km, 650 x 646 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Arctic

Period:

2015-2100

Forcing:

CNRM SSP3-7.0

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • In preparation
 
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Data Greenland

Present day

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   FGRN055

Resolution:

5.5 km, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

1945-2025

Forcing:

ERA5

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • In preparation

Name:

RACMO2.4p1   FGRN11

Resolution:

11 km, 327 x 326 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

1960-2023

Forcing:

ERA5

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo.

Key publication:

  • van Dalum et. al (2024): First results of the polar regional climate model RACMO2.4, The Cryosphere, 18, 4065–4088, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4065-2024.

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   FGRN055

Resolution:

5.5 km (0.05°), 438 x 566 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

1957-now

Forcing:

ERA40 / ERA-Interim / ERA5

RACMO data:

Available, plus 1 km downscaled

Key publication:

  • Noël et al., 2018. Modelling the climate and surface mass balance of polar ice sheets using racmo2 – part 1: Greenland (1958–2016). The Cryosphere, 12(3), 811–831, doi: 10.5194/tc-12-811-2018.

Name:

RACMO2.3p3   FGRN11

Resolution:

11 km (0.10°), 326 x 327 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

2000-2018

Forcing:

ERA-Interim

RACMO data:

Available on Zenodo

Key publication:

  • Van Dalum et al., 2021. Impact of updated radiative transfer scheme in snow and ice in RACMO2.3p3 on the surface mass and energy budget of the Greenland ice sheet, The Cryosphere, 15, 1823–1844, doi:10.5194/tc-15-1823-2021.
 
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Historic

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   FGRN11

Resolution:

11. km (0.1°), 326 x 327 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

1950-2014

Forcing:

CESM2

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • Noël et. al (2020): Brief communication: CESM2 climate forcing (1950–2014) yields realistic Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance, The Cryosphere, doi: 10.5194/tc-14-1425-2020
 
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21st century

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   FGRN11

Resolution:

11 km (0.1°), 326 x 327 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Greenland ice sheet

Period:

2015-2000

Forcing:

CESM2 SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • Noël et. al (2021): A 21st century warming threshold for sustained Greenland ice sheet mass loss, Geophysical Research Letters, doi: 10.1029/2020GL090471
 
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Data Ice caps

Antarctic Peninsula

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   XPEN055

Resolution:

5.5 km (0.05°), 294 x 390 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Antarctic Peninsula

Period:

1979-2022

Forcing:

ERA-Interim / ERA5

RACMO data:

Available

Key publication:

  • Van Wessem et al., 2018. Modelling the climate and surface mass balance of polar ice sheets using racmo2 – part 2: Antarctica (1979–2016). The Cryosphere, 12(4), 1479–1498, doi: 10.5194/tc-12-1479-2018.
 
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Canadian Arctic

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   FGRN055/XCAA

Resolution:

11 km (0.1°), 40 levels

Domain:

Canadian Arctic

Period:

1958-2015

Forcing:

ERA40 / ERA-Interim

RACMO data:

Available, plus 1 km downscaled

Key publication:

  • Noël et al., 2018. Six decades of glacial mass loss in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. J. Geophys. Res.: Earth Surface, 123, 1430–1449. doi: 10.1029/2017JF004304.
 
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Svalbard

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   SVALB035

Resolution:

11 km (0.1°), 246 x 240 points, 40 levels

Domain:

Svalbard

Period:

1957-2018

Forcing:

ERA40 / ERA-Interim

RACMO data:

Available?

Key publication:

  • Noël et al., 2020. Low elevation of svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability. Nature Communications, 11(1), 4597. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1.
 
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Iceland

Name:

RACMO2.3p2   FGRN055/ICL

Resolution:

5.5 km (0.05°), 40 levels

Domain:

Iceland

Period:

1957-2019

Forcing:

ERA40 / ERA-Interim / ERA5

RACMO data:

Available, based on FGRN055, downscaled to 1 km

Key publication:

  • Noël et. al (2022): North Atlantic cooling is slowing down mass loss of Icelandic glaciers, Geophysical Research Letters, 49, doi: 10.1029/2021GL095697.
 
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