GFDL’s ocean model set to enhance NOAA’s hurricane forecasting

Hurricane Florence in 2018. Credit: NASA

At GFDL, the latest version of the lab’s Modular Ocean Model, MOM6, represents a major advancement in modeling oceanic and climatic processes. Developed with a commitment to enhancing the understanding of the ocean’s influence on climate, MOM6 continues the legacy of its predecessors while introducing new advances in scientific collaboration and open-source development.

MOM’s development began in the mid-1980s, aimed at providing a robust tool for simulating ocean circulation and its effects on global climate. Each subsequent version of MOM has incorporated more sophisticated physics and numerical schemes to better address pressing questions of ocean circulation and climate variability. For example, MOM4 brought improvements in ice-ocean interactions, which are vital for studies on polar regions and sea-level rise. MOM5 advanced these capabilities further, improving computational efficiency and integrating more detailed marine ecosystem models.

With MOM6, introduced in 2015, the focus expanded to include not just advancements in modeling technology but also fostering a broader, more inclusive scientific community. MOM6 adopted an open-development framework, greatly widening its developmental and application scope by involving scientists from around the world. This shift not only spurred rapid enhancements in the model but also ensured its adaptability to the evolving challenges of climate science.