Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6487
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6487
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
26 Jan 2026
| 26 Jan 2026
The coupled Southern Ocean–Sea ice–Ice shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0): configuration and evaluation
Abstract. Complex interactions among the ocean, sea ice, and ice shelves in the Southern Ocean are critical for global climate, yet accurately simulating these processes remains challenging in climate models, such as those participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6, due to their coarse resolution and incomplete physical components. Therefore, the development of high-resolution circumpolar coupled ocean–sea ice–ice shelf models could improve our understanding of the evolution of the Southern Ocean. In this study, we use the c66m version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model, including a sea ice component and an ice shelf component, to configure the coupled Southern Ocean–Sea ice–Ice shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0). Adopting the Refined Topography dataset version 2 for the geometry of seafloor and ice draft, SOSIM features a horizontal resolution of ~5 km and 70 vertical layers. Forced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis v5, a long-term integration of SOSIM is run forward from 1979 to 2022, with daily outputs for estimating the oceanic state, sea ice evolution, and basal mass balance of ice shelves. A comprehensive evaluation of the performance of SOSIM has been conducted against multiple observational and reanalysis datasets. Identified biases include an underestimated Antarctic Circumpolar Current transport, an overestimated Antarctic Slope Current, a warm drift in abyssal waters, an exaggerated seasonality of sea ice extent, and an underestimated total ice shelf mass loss. Despite these limitations, SOSIM still captures large-scale hydrographic structures, the annual variability of sea ice, and cross-slope exchanges over shelf seas. Furthermore, SOSIM is set to serve as the dynamical core for the next-generation Southern Ocean Ice Prediction System being developed in China.
How to cite. Liu, C., Wang, Z., Chen, D., Han, X., Leng, H., Liang, X., Yan, L., Li, X., Stevens, C., Hogg, A., Kusahara, K., Yamazaki, K., Ohshima, K., Zhou, M., Cheng, X., Wang, D., Dong, C., Liu, J., Yang, Q., Li, X., Lei, R., Ding, M., Zhang, Z., Kang, D., Qi, D., Liu, T., Dong, J., An, L., Chen, R., Zhang, T., Hu, X., Han, B., Bi, H., Shu, Q., Mu, L., Xu, S., Yang, H., Liu, H., Dou, T., Feng, Z., Zheng, L., Tang, X., Shi, G., Cai, Y., Li, B., Wu, Y., Lin, X., Sun, W., Liu, Y., Yu, K., Zhang, Y., Shao, W., Wang, X., Zheng, S., Yuan, C., Zhou, C., Liu, J., Liu, Y., Xia, Y., Pan, X., Zeng, J., Liu, K., Fan, J., Cheng, C., and Li, Q.: The coupled Southern Ocean–Sea ice–Ice shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0): configuration and evaluation, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6487, 2026.
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Data sets
The coupled Southern Ocean–Sea ice–Ice shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0) Chengyan Liu https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.35237
Model code and software
The coupled Southern Ocean–Sea ice–Ice shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0) Chengyan Liu https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.35237
Video supplement
Simulation Showcase of SOSIM Chengyan Liu https://www.hellosea.org.cn/data/SOSIM/#simulation-showcase
Latest update: 26 Jan 2026
Chengyan Liu
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Zhaomin Wang
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Dake Chen
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Xianxian Han
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Hengling Leng
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing, 100081, China
Liangjun Yan
School of Marine Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Xiang Li
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Craig Stevens
Earth Sciences New Zealand, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand
Andrew Hogg
Research School of Earth Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Kazuya Kusahara
Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, 237-0061, Japan
Kaihe Yamazaki
Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Kay Ohshima
Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan
Meng Zhou
Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
Xiao Cheng
School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-sen University, 519082, Zhuhai, China
Dongxiao Wang
School of Marine Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Changming Dong
School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
Jiping Liu
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Qinghua Yang
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Xichen Li
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China
Ruibo Lei
Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 200136, China
Minghu Ding
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
Zhaoru Zhang
Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
Dujuan Kang
Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
Di Qi
Polar and Marine Research Institute, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China
Tongya Liu
State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, 310012, China
Jihai Dong
School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
College of Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
Ru Chen
School of Marine Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
Tong Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Disaster Risk Reduction, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xiaoming Hu
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Bo Han
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Haibo Bi
Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
First Institute of Oceanography, and Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, 266061, China
Longjiang Mu
Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, 266100, China
Shiming Xu
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
Hu Yang
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Hailong Liu
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disasters and Climate Resources in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650500, China
Tingfeng Dou
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
Zhixuan Feng
State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
Lei Zheng
School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-sen University, 519082, Zhuhai, China
Xueyuan Tang
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
Guitao Shi
School of Geographic Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
Yongqing Cai
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
Bingrui Li
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
Yang Wu
School of Information Engineering, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, 211171, China
Xia Lin
School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
Wenjin Sun
School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
Yu Liu
Marine Science and Technology College, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316000, China
Kai Yu
Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China
Yu Zhang
College of Oceanography and Ecological Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
Weizeng Shao
College of Oceanography and Ecological Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
Xiaoyu Wang
Frontier Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China
Shaojun Zheng
Key Laboratory of Climate, Resources and Environment in Continental Shelf Sea and Deep Sea of Department of Education of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China
Chengyi Yuan
Department of Marine Technology, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China
Chunxia Zhou
Chinese Antarctic Centre of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
Jian Liu
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Yue Xia
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Xiaoyu Pan
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Jiabao Zeng
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Kechen Liu
College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China
Jiahao Fan
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China
Chen Cheng
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Qi Li
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519080, China
Short summary
We developed a high-resolution computer model to simulate how the ocean, sea ice, and ice shelves interact around Antarctica. This helps us understand their critical role in global climate and sea-level rise. Our model successfully captures essential features like major currents and seasonal ice changes. Despite some remaining biases, it provides a useful tool for predicting future changes in this vital and rapidly evolving region.
We developed a high-resolution computer model to simulate how the ocean, sea ice, and ice...