An improved lake model for climate simulations: Model structure, evaluation, and sensitivity analyses in CESM1

Lakes can influence regional climate, yet most general circulation models have, at best, simple and largely untested representations of lakes. We developed the Lake, Ice, Snow, and Sediment Simulator (LISSS) for inclusion in the land‐surface component (CLM4) of an earth system model (CESM1). The existing CLM4 lake model performed poorly at all sites tested; for temperate lakes, summer surface water temperature predictions were 10–25°C lower than observations. CLM4‐LISSS modifies the existing model by including (1) a treatment of snow; (2) freezing, melting, and ice physics; (3) a sediment thermal submodel; (4) spatially variable prescribed lake depth; (5) improved parameterizations of lake surface properties; (6) increased mixing under ice and in deep lakes; and (7) correction of previous errors. We evaluated the lake model predictions of water temperature and surface fluxes at three small temperate and boreal lakes where extensive observational data was available. We also evaluated the predicted water temperature and/or ice and snow thicknesses for ten other lakes where less comprehensive forcing observations were available. CLM4‐LISSS performed very well compared to observations for shallow to medium‐depth small lakes. For large, deep lakes, the under‐prediction of mixing was improved by increasing the lake eddy diffusivity by a factor of 10, consistent with previous published analyses. Surface temperature and surface flux predictions were improved when the aerodynamic roughness lengths were calculated as a function of friction velocity, rather than using a constant value of 1 mm or greater. We evaluated the sensitivity of surface energy fluxes to modeled lake processes and parameters. Large changes in monthly‐averaged surface fluxes (up to 30 W m−2) were found when excluding snow insulation or phase change physics and when varying the opacity, depth, albedo of melting lake ice, and mixing strength across ranges commonly found in real lakes. Typical variation among model parameterization choices can therefore cause persistent local surface flux changes much larger than expected changes in greenhouse forcing. We conclude that CLM4‐LISSS adequately simulates lake water temperature and surface energy fluxes, with errors comparable in magnitude to those resulting from uncertainty in global lake properties, and is suitable for inclusion in global and regional climate studies. Key Points Improved lake thermodynamics model suitable for inclusion in GCMs The mod