/ CMIP Task Teams / Climate Forcings Task Team

Climate Forcings Task Team

Co-leads: Paul Durack (PCMDI/LLNL), Vaishali Naik (NOAA/GFDL), Zebedee Nicholls (Climate Resource/IIASA)

Climate forcings are key in defining exogenous drivers of ongoing climate change and variability. As such, they are an integral part of defining historical, future scenarios, and idealised model experiments. Up-to-date, accurate, and well-documented forcing datasets are needed to build confidence in model simulations, attribution of historical changes, and projections of future climate change. The Climate Forcings Task Team (TT) is focused on identifying, developing, documenting, and delivering an updated and expanded forcing dataset collection for CMIP7 and beyond.

Goals & Objectives

The TT aims to identify, update, and deliver the next generation forcings for current and future generations of Earth System models. To achieve its aim, the TT has focused on four specific goals, select each goal in the view below to see its related sub-goals. The TT coordinates closely with the various Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs) to ensure consistency between the experimental design and the required forcings. In particular, there is close coordination with ScenarioMIP to ensure the harmonisation of forcing datasets between historical and future scenarios. The WCRP Lighthouse Activity Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change (EPESC), Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), and numerous national and regional projects are important stakeholders.

In addition to the forcing datasets required to complete the DECK (Diagnostic, Evaluation, and Characterization of Klima) simulations for CMIP7, we welcome contributions of forcing datasets to meet the needs of community MIP experiments. We also welcome prototype or alternative datasets not currently included in the standard CMIP DECK forcing suite. The TT’s key focus is quantifying uncertainty in forcing datasets, so the collation of alternative datasets to sample uncertainty and spread is a team priority. For new datasets, contributors should be willing to provide dataset documentation and support modelling groups who plan to use these data to force the simulations. All contributed data should conform as closely as possible to standard CMIP data formats (NetCDF, CF-Conventions, for reference see the CMIP6 data attributes), and where possible, use common units that most closely align with existing datasets or CMIP model output. All contributed data will be published with public open access on the input4MIPs ESGF project. If you are interested in contributing a dataset, please get in touch with the CMIP IPO.

Forcing datasets availability

Please see CMIP7 Forcing Datasets page for latest information and links to the datasets.

Community engagement

Please sign-up for the Forcings mailing list here to be notified of new data, updates, or documentation. 

Feedback on the forcing datasets can be provided via GitHub. We are particularly interested to hear from you if you have tested the datasets in models or compared against datasets in past CMIP phases or other sources. 

There are two Fresh Eyes on CMIP Projects involved in evaluating the CMIP6Plus and CMIP7 forcing dataset, and analysing the paleo datasets check for consistency between paleo and modern timescales. For more information, check the Fresh Eyes webpages.

Publications

Forcings Task Team Members and Stakeholders

TT members represent forcing dataset developers/providers and global Earth System Modellers that plan to contribute to CMIP7. The TT also includes stakeholders who are external data users and are involved in satellite projects for CMIP, the WCRP, or the broader community. These stakeholders provide feedback and connection points across a broad and growing climate research community.

The Task Team also collaborates with the Fresh Eyes on CMIP Forcings subgroup, with co-leads Camilla Mathison (Met Office) and Wandi Yu (LLNL). The Forcings subgroup is contributing to the testing and evaluation of the forcings datasets as they are made available online. Opportunities for engagement with the Fresh Eyes subgroup will be announced soon.

Members

MemberServiceInstitutionCountry
Paul Durack (Co-lead)2022-PCMDI/LLNLUSA
Vaishali Naik (Co-lead)2022-NOAAUSA
Zebedee Nicholls (Co-lead)2022-Climate Resource/IIASAAustralia/Austria
Thomas Aubry2023-University of ExeterUK
Louise Chini2022-UMDUSA
John Fasullo2022-UCARUSA
Stephanie Fiedler2023-University HeidelbergGermany
Bernd Funke2022-IAASpain
Heather Graven2022-Imperial College, LondonUK
Michaela Hegglin2022-Forschungszentrum JülichGermany
Jarmo Kikstra2024-IIASA/Imperial College LondonAustria
Thibaut Lurton2022-IPSLFrance
Claire Macintosh2022-ESAUK
David Plummer2022-Environment CanadaCanada
Steven Smith2022-PNNL/UMDUSA
Margreet van Marle2022-DeltaresNetherlands
Tilo Ziehn2022-CSIROAustralia

Former members

Keywan RiahiMember; 2023-2024IIASAAustria
Guido van der WerfMember; Jul-Nov 2023Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands

Stakeholders

StakeholderTermForcing dataset/activityInstitutionCountry
Rachel Hoesly2023 –CEDSPNNLUSA
Mahesh Kovilakam2023 –SAGE3NASAUSA
Ken Mankoff2024 –Anomalous freshwater forcing teamNASA-GISSUSA
Malte Meinshausen2023 –GHG/ScenarioMIPUniversity of MelbourneAustralia
Anja Schmidt2023 –Volcanics consortiumDLR/ LMU MunichGermany
Doug Smith2023 –LESFMIP/EPESC WG2Met Office/ WCRP EPESCUK
Tim Stockdale2023 –H2020 CONFESSECMWFUK

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

If you are having difficulties viewing the FAQs, you can open them in a new tab here.

Activities and events

  1. Forcings drop-in sessions
  2. Consultations
  3. Task Team member presentations
  4. Membership calls

Forcings drop-in sessions

March 2025

The latest community drop in session to launch the release of the CMIP7 DECK forcing datasets took place on 11 March 2024. Slides from the session can be accessed here and the recording here.

October 2024

A drop in session was held during the Pathway to regular and sustained delivery of climate forcing datasets workshop on 23 October 2024. Slides from the session can be accessed here and the recording here.

June 2023

On 7 June 2023, the first two Forcings drop-in sessions were held across two time-slots (05:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC) to support equitable global participation. These sessions were chaired by one of the CMIP Panel co-chairs John Dunne (GFDL/NOAA) or Helene Hewitt (Met Office) and led by the Forcings Task Team co-leads, Paul Durack (PCMDI/LLNL) and Vaishali Naik (GFDL/NOAA) with input from the wider Task Team membership.

In these sessions, participants were introduced to the Task Team members and stakeholders together with the core goals they are seeking to address.  Further, feedback received in the recent Future CMIP Forcings Community Survey was outlined and how the task team is addressing issues raised here, to deliver to CMIP7 and tackle longer term scientific challenges, before opening the session for an interactive dialogue with participants.This has now been summarised in an event report published in the Zenodo WCRP-CMIP Community. Slides from the session can also be found in the Zenodo WCRP-CMIP Community, or can be accessed at this link.

Consultations

A number of consultations have been circulated to groups across the community to gather feedback from CMIP6 and feedback and concerns around CMIP7 forcings. Input to the Forcings Task Team was gathered in the following consultations:

  1. CMIP6 Community Survey (March 2022)
  2. Future CMIP Forcings community survey (March 2023) 
  3. Modelling centres Fast Track Consultation (v2, February 2024)

Task Team member presentations

Members of the Task Team regularly present to share the work of the Task Team to the wider community. Below is a list (with linked slidedecks) of a selection of these presentations:

Membership calls

Open call for members closed in October 2022 – call text available here.

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