nextGEMS🚀 Our #nextGEMS overview paper is out!
After three years of intense collaboration, we’re thrilled to share a comprehensive look at what the nextGEMS project has achieved: a milestone for #ClimateModelling 🌐
For the first time ever, nextGEMS has produced multidecadal #climate simulations with kilometer-scale resolution across the ocean, land, and atmosphere, using the ICON and IFS-FESOM Earth system models. 🌍
🔹 The project unfolded over four development cycles, each releasing new configurations of ICON and IFS-FESOM.
🔹 These were rigorously evaluated at our hackathons, bringing together climate scientists, software engineers, HPC experts, and users from sectors like energy and agriculture.
🔹 By the end of the fourth cycle, we successfully ran 30-year simulations (2020–2049) at an impressive ~500 simulated days per day on the Levante supercomputer at German Climate Computing Center | DKRZ |.
🔹 Simulations reached ~5 km resolution in the ocean and ~10 km on land and in the atmosphere, offering unprecedented detail.
Furthermore, the simulations form a core building block for the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin in the Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative. In other words, nextGEMS' work paves the way for the next generation of European climate research. 🇪🇺
👉 Read the full overview paper here: https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/7735/2025/
#HPC #EarthSystemScience #DestinationEarth #ClimateResearch #SciCom
#CINEA _EU
nextGEMS: entering the era of kilometer-scale Earth system modeling
Abstract. The Next Generation of Earth Modeling Systems (nextGEMS) project aimed to produce multidecadal climate simulations, for the first time, with resolved kilometer-scale (km-scale) processes in the ocean, land, and atmosphere. In only 3 years, nextGEMS achieved this milestone with the two km-scale Earth system models, ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model (ICON) and Integrated Forecasting System coupled to the Finite-volumE Sea ice-Ocean Model (IFS-FESOM). nextGEMS was based on three cornerstones: (1) developing km-scale Earth system models with small errors in the energy and water balance, (2) performing km-scale climate simulations with a throughput greater than 1 simulated year per day, and (3) facilitating new workflows for an efficient analysis of the large simulations with common data structures and output variables. These cornerstones shaped the timeline of nextGEMS, divided into four cycles. Each cycle marked the release of a new configuration of ICON and IFS-FESOM, which were evaluated at hackathons. The hackathon participants included experts from climate science, software engineering, and high-performance computing as well as users from the energy and agricultural sectors. The continuous efforts over the four cycles allowed us to produce 30-year simulations with ICON and IFS-FESOM, spanning the period 2020–2049 under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. The throughput was about 500 simulated days per day on the Levante supercomputer of the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). The simulations employed a horizontal grid of about 5 km resolution in the ocean and 10 km resolution in the atmosphere and land. Aside from this technical achievement, the simulations allowed us to gain new insights into the realism of ICON and IFS-FESOM. Beyond its time frame, nextGEMS builds the foundation of the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin developed in the Destination Earth initiative and paves the way for future European research on climate change.
