Plain Language Summary
The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research (AWI) participates for the first time with a global climate
model in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6). The
results of CMIP6 and previous model comparison projects feed into the
next assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC). The IPCC assessment reports include information on past and
expected climate change in the future and is written for policy- and
decision-makers as well as for the general public. The main
characteristics of the AWI climate model are described and compared to
models from previous intercomparison projects. The projected global
warming in AWI-CM is similar to the average warming predicted by climate
models in the previous intercomparison project. However, the Arctic sea
ice extent declines faster than typical previous estimates. Areas that
are wet in present-day climate become wetter, and areas that are dry in
present-day climate become drier in the future - consistent with
previous climate model simulations. The ocean currents remain rather
stable in the AWI climate projections, which leads to a continued warm
Gulf stream and therefore an only slightly reduced warming of the North
Atlantic and parts of Europe compared to other mid-latitude regions.