Overview

Documentation under review

The contents of these pages are currently under review. On each experiment page, you will see a dot point for "MIP co-chair review". Where this says "Complete", you can assume that the guidance is stable and reliable. Otherwise, please treat the guidance with some caution, because it has not been reviewed by the experiment designers (the MIP co-chairs) yet. If you have any feedback, please feel free to raise an issue at https://github.com/WCRP-CMIP/cmip7-guidance/issues/new and tag @znichollscr.

These pages provide guidance on the experimental setup and forcings to be used in CMIP7. They are updated regularly, hence should be considered the current source of guidance. The papers which describe the experiments in the scientific literature are the original source and key reference, but they may still contain errors which cannot be fixed after publication so should not be relied upon in isolation. The papers also provide further information about each simulation than what is provided here, such as the motivation, history and results from previous CMIP phases.

These pages specify the intended way to run each simulation. However, we understand that modelling groups sometimes need to make changes for a variety of reasons. We are currently discussing a mechanism for modeling centers to document these alterations in a central, publicly accessible location (for example, discussion of how to choose values for the forcing 'f' identifier is ongoing). When these discussions are finalised, these guidance pages will be updated.

DECK experiments

CMIP

CMIP core common experiments i.e. the DECK (Diagnostic, Evaluation and Characterization of Klima).

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in CMIP:

  1. 1pctCO2
  2. abrupt-4xCO2
  3. amip
  4. historical
  5. esm-hist
  6. piClim-4xCO2
  7. piClim-anthro
  8. piClim-control
  9. piControl
  10. esm-piControl
  11. piControl-spinup
  12. esm-piControl-spinup

Assessment Fast Track (AFT) experiments

AerChemMIP

Aerosols and chemistry model intercomparison project: exploration of aerosol chemistry.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in AerChemMIP:

  1. hist-piAer
  2. hist-piAQ
  3. piClim-CH4
  4. piClim-N2O
  5. piClim-NOx
  6. piClim-ODS
  7. piClim-SO2
  8. scen7-h-Aer
  9. esm-scen7-h-Aer
  10. scen7-h-AQ
  11. esm-scen7-h-AQ
  12. scen7-vl-Aer
  13. esm-scen7-vl-Aer
  14. scen7-vl-AQ
  15. esm-scen7-vl-AQ

CFMIP

Cloud feedback model intercomparison project. Focussed primarily on cloud feedbacks with a secondary focus on understanding of response to forcing, model biases, circulation, regional-scale precipitation, and non-linear changes.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in CFMIP:

  1. abrupt-0p5xCO2
  2. abrupt-2xCO2
  3. amip-p4K
  4. amip-piForcing

C4MIP

Coupled climate carbon cycle model intercomparison project: exploration of the response of the coupled carbon-climate system.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in C4MIP:

  1. 1pctCO2-bgc
  2. 1pctCO2-rad
  3. esm-flat10
  4. esm-flat10-cdr
  5. esm-flat10-zec

ScenarioMIP

Future scenario experiments. Exploration of the future climate under a (selected) range of possible boundary conditions.

The priority of ScenarioMIP experiments (expressed as Tier 1 and 2) is summarized in the flowchart below, which is based on Table 1 of Van Vuuren et al. 2026. Emissions-driven experiments, indicated in yellow, have names beginning with esm-.

  • If your model is capable of running in emissions-driven mode, ScenarioMIP request emissions-driven scenarios, and additionally the concentration-driven experiment scen7-m, at Tier-1 (highest priority).
  • If your model will run only the concentration-driven experiments, ScenarioMIP request all concentration-driven scenarios at Tier-1.

If you are running in emissions-driven mode, you are welcome to run other scenarios in concentration-driven mode, but they have not been assigned a specific tier (i.e., are lowest priority).

ScenarioMIP experiments, with emissions-driven experiments indicated in yellow.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in ScenarioMIP:

  1. scen7-h
  2. esm-scen7-h
  3. scen7-h-ext
  4. esm-scen7-h-ext
  5. scen7-hl
  6. esm-scen7-hl
  7. scen7-hl-ext
  8. esm-scen7-hl-ext
  9. scen7-l
  10. esm-scen7-l
  11. scen7-l-ext
  12. esm-scen7-l-ext
  13. scen7-ln
  14. esm-scen7-ln
  15. scen7-ln-ext
  16. esm-scen7-ln-ext
  17. scen7-m
  18. esm-scen7-m
  19. scen7-m-ext
  20. esm-scen7-m-ext
  21. scen7-ml
  22. esm-scen7-ml
  23. scen7-ml-ext
  24. esm-scen7-ml-ext
  25. scen7-vl
  26. esm-scen7-vl
  27. scen7-vl-ext
  28. esm-scen7-vl-ext

DAMIP

Detection and attribution model intercomparison project: exploration of the role of individual forcings (both anthropogenic and natural) in past and future climate change.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in DAMIP:

  1. hist-aer
  2. hist-GHG
  3. hist-nat

GeoMIP

Geoengineering model intercomparison project: exploration of the climate response to solar radiation manipulation.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in GeoMIP:

  1. G7-1p5K-SAI

LMIP

Land (offline) Model Intercomparison Project: advancing understanding of the impacts of land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) on climate

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in LMIP:

  1. land-hist

PMIP

Palaeoclimate modelling intercomparison project: assessment of paleoclimate i.e. climate thousands of years or more in the past.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in PMIP:

  1. abrupt-127k

RFMIP

Radiative Forcing Model Intercomparison Project: characterisation of radiative forcing within models.

These pages are intended to help with implementation of these experiments. If you notice something that is unclear, please raise an issue. For the full background of the experiments, please see the following URLs:

The following experiments are included in RFMIP:

  1. piClim-aer
  2. piClim-histaer
  3. piClim-histall