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The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) has contributed to the World Climate Research Programme’s Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) using two fully coupled model versions (ACCESS-CM2 and ACCESS-ESM1.5) and two ocean–sea-ice model versions (1° and 0.25° resolution versions of ACCESS-OM2). The fully coupled models differ primarily in the configuration and version of their atmosphere components (including the aerosol scheme), with smaller differences in their sea-ice and land model versions. Additionally, ACCESS-ESM1.5 includes biogeochemistry in the land and ocean components and can be run with an interactive carbon cycle. CMIP6 comprises core experiments and associated thematic Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs). This paper provides an overview of the CMIP6 submission, including the methods used for the preparation of input forcing datasets and the post-processing of model output, along with a comprehensive list of experiments performed, detailing their initialisation, duration, ensemble number and computational cost. A small selection of model output is presented, focusing on idealised experiments and their variants at global scale. Differences in the climate simulation of the two coupled models are highlighted. ACCESS-CM2 produces a larger equilibrium climate sensitivity (4.7°C) than ACCESS-ESM1.5 (3.9°C), likely a result of updated atmospheric parameterisation in recent versions of the atmospheric component of ACCESS-CM2. The idealised experiments run with ACCESS-ESM1.5 show that land and ocean carbon fluxes respond to both changing atmospheric CO2 and to changing temperature. ACCESS data submitted to CMIP6 are available from the Earth System Grid Federation (https://doi.org/10.22033/ESGF/CMIP6.2281 and https://doi.org/10.22033/ESGF/CMIP6.2288). The information provided in this paper should facilitate easier use of these significant datasets by the broader climate community.

The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) has contributed to the World Climate Research Programme’s Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) using two fully coupled model versions (ACCESS-CM2 and ACCESS-ESM1.5) and two ocean–sea-ice model versions (1° and 0.25° resolution versions of ACCESS-OM2). The fully coupled models differ primarily in the configuration and version of their atmosphere components (including the aerosol scheme), with smaller differences in their sea-ice and land model versions. Additionally, ACCESS-ESM1.5 includes biogeochemistry in the land and ocean components and can be run with an interactive carbon cycle. CMIP6 comprises core experiments and associated thematic Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs). This paper provides an overview of the CMIP6 submission, including the methods used for the preparation of input forcing datasets and the post-processing of model output, along with a comprehensive list of experiments performed, detailing their initialisation, duration, ensemble number and computational cost. A small selection of model output is presented, focusing on idealised experiments and their variants at global scale. Differences in the climate simulation of the two coupled models are highlighted. ACCESS-CM2 produces a larger equilibrium climate sensitivity (4.7°C) than ACCESS-ESM1.5 (3.9°C), likely a result of updated atmospheric parameterisation in recent versions of the atmospheric component of ACCESS-CM2. The idealised experiments run with ACCESS-ESM1.5 show that land and ocean carbon fluxes respond to both changing atmospheric CO2 and to changing temperature. ACCESS data submitted to CMIP6 are available from the Earth System Grid Federation (https://doi.org/10.22033/ESGF/CMIP6.2281 and https://doi.org/10.22033/ESGF/CMIP6.2288). The information provided in this paper should facilitate easier use of these significant datasets by the broader climate community.

Mantle plume behavior near subducting plates is still poorly understood and in fact varies significantly from the classical hotspot model. We investigate using 3D laboratory models how subduction-driven flow relates to the deformation and dispersal of a nearby plume. Results show slab-driven flow severely distorts plume-driven flow, entraining and passively advecting plume material despite its thermal buoyancy. Downdip sinking of the slab initially stalls vertical plume ascent while the combination of downdip and rollback sinking motions redistribute material throughout the system. As a consequence of the subduction-induced flow, surface expressions differ significantly from traditional plume expectations. Variations in slab sinking style and plume position lead to a range in head and conduit melting signatures, as well as migrating hotspots. For the Samoa-Tonga system, model predictions are consistent with proposed entrainment of plume material around the subducting plate.

Mantle plume behavior near subducting plates is still poorly understood and in fact varies significantly from the classical hotspot model. We investigate using 3D laboratory models how subduction-driven flow relates to the deformation and dispersal of a nearby plume. Results show slab-driven flow severely distorts plume-driven flow, entraining and passively advecting plume material despite its thermal buoyancy. Downdip sinking of the slab initially stalls vertical plume ascent while the combination of downdip and rollback sinking motions redistribute material throughout the system. As a consequence of the subduction-induced flow, surface expressions differ significantly from traditional plume expectations. Variations in slab sinking style and plume position lead to a range in head and conduit melting signatures, as well as migrating hotspots. For the Samoa-Tonga system, model predictions are consistent with proposed entrainment of plume material around the subducting plate. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

A recent expansion in global seismic anisotropy data provides important new insights about the style of mantle convection. Interpretations of these geophysical measurements rely on complex relationships between mineral physics, seismology, and mantle dyna

The causes of volcanism in the northwestern United States over the past 20 million years are strongly contested. Three drivers have been proposed: melting associated with plate subduction; tectonic extension and magmatism resulting from rollback of a subd

The causes of volcanism in the northwestern United States over the past 20 million years are strongly contested. Three drivers have been proposed: melting associated with plate subduction; tectonic extension and magmatism resulting from rollback of a subducting slab; or the Yellowstone mantle plume. Observations of the opposing age progression of two neighbouring volcanic chains - the Snake River Plain and High Lava Plains - are often used to argue against a plume origin for the volcanism. Plumes are likely to occur near subduction zones, yet the influence of subduction on the surface expression of mantle plumes is poorly understood. Here we use experiments with a laboratory model to show that the patterns of volcanism in the northwestern United States can be explained by a plume upwelling through mantle that circulates in the wedge beneath a subduction zone. We find that the buoyant plume may be stalled, deformed and partially torn apart by mantle flow induced by the subducting plate. Using plausible model parameters, bifurcation of the plume can reproduce the primary volcanic features observed in the northwestern United States, in particular the opposite progression of two volcanic chains. Our results support the presence of the Yellowstone plume in the northwestern United States, and also highlight the power of plume-subduction interactions to modify surface geology at convergent plate margins.

A recent expansion in global seismic anisotropy data provides important new insights about the style of mantle convection. Interpretations of these geophysical measurements rely on complex relationships between mineral physics, seismology, and mantle dynamics. We report on 3-D laboratory experiments using finite strain markers evolving in time-dependent, viscous flow fields to quantify the range in expected anisotropy patterns within buoyant plumes surfacing in a variety of tectonic settings. A surprising result is that laboratory proxies for the olivine fast axis overwhelmingly align tangential to radial outflow in plumes well before reaching the surface. These remarkably robust, and ancient, anisotropy patterns evolve differently in stagnant, translational, and divergent plate tectonic settings and are essentially orthogonal to patterns typically referenced when prospecting for plume signals in seismic data. Results suggest a fundamental change in the mineral physics-seismology-circulation relationship used in accepting or rejecting a plume model. © 2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

We present three-dimensional laboratory modeling of the evolution of finite strain and compare these to shear wave splitting observations in the Northwest U.S. under the High Lava Plains (HLP). We show that relationships between mantle flow and anisotropy are complicated in subduction zones and factors such as initial orientation of the olivine fast-axis, style of subduction, and time evolving flow are important. Due to increased horizontal shear, systems with a component of rollback subduction have simple trench-normal strain alignment within the central region of the backarc mantle wedge while those with more simple longitudinal sinking are often variable and complex. In the HLP, splitting observations are consistent with rollback-driven laboratory results. © 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.