Abstract

The sea-ice modelling community progresses towards Pan-Arctic simulations that explicitly resolve leads in the simulated ice cover. Initiated by the Sea-Ice Working Group at the Forum for Arctic Modelling and Observational Synthesis (FAMOS), the Sea Ice Rheology Experiment (SIREx) aims to understand how the simulated deformation fields are affected by different representations of sea-ice physics and other model parameterizations by comparing 11 state-of-the-art models. The inter-comparison project comprises models using all four most commonly used rheologies (VP, EVP , EAP, and MEB ), various resolution (1-12km), different atmospheric forcing, and different model parameterizations. We use a two-step evaluation: (1) a multi-fractal scaling analysis of deformation fields, which is the standard method in the field so far, and (2) a new feature-based evaluation, which compares spatial and temporal characteristics of tracked deformation features. In both parts, we find that model configuration (e.g. grid spacing, atmospheric forcing) and physical parameterizations (ice strength and ice thickness distribution) can have an impact as important as the choice of rheology on the realism of simulated deformation fields.