China issues Earth system simulation model to study climate change

BEIJING, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- A China-developed Earth system simulation model, designed to study climate change and provide help for disaster prevention and mitigation, was issued on Friday.

The Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued the model, CAS-ESM2.0, during the first Earth system numerical modeling science conference held in Beijing, and announced the release of its source code.

As the country's first home-grown Earth system model, CAS-ESM2.0 is the core software component of the Earth System Numerical Simulator Facility, one of China's major national science and technology infrastructure projects, said a report of the Science and Technology Daily.

The model has a total of about 2.7 million lines of simulation program code. It includes complete components of the climate system and eco-environmental system, and it has eight sub-system models, including atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation and sea ice.

CAS-ESM2.0 can be used to explore and understand the laws of climate and environmental evolution. It can also be used to study the interaction mechanism of Earth layers, predict future changes of Earth system, provide a decision-making basis and sci-tech support for disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as help formulate national strategies to cope with future climate change.