Climate Resource develops model evaluation frameworks and software to provide diagnostics that characterise climate model performance and highlight model spread, diversity and differences. These results may help researchers identify models suitable for specific applications. This work is contributing to the World Climate Research Program's Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), which will support the IPCC's upcoming seventh assessment report (AR7).
ESM Evaluation
Systematic and comprehensive evaluation of climate models through comparison with observational data
Benchmarking climate models contributing to the World Climate Research Program
As the global science community prepares for the the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report, Climate Resource is leading work to develop the methods and software for a Rapid Evaluation Framework to benchmark the earth system models contributing to Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP7). The CMIP7 Rapid Evaluation Framework enables users to explore and visualize climate model evaluation diagnostics across different Earth system components and scientific themes
Climate Resource's role in the CMIP7 Rapid Evaluation Framework includes:
- Technical direction
- Method development
- Software development
- Dataset construction
- Community consultation
The CMIP7 Rapid Evaluation Framework was launched in October 2025.
It will continue to be developed out to 2030, including at the upcoming World Climate Research Program Workshop in Kyoto, Japan in March 2026. The workshop will be an opportunity to discuss the latest developments in Earth system and coupled modelling, leverage the wealth of the CMIP6 analyses and explore the updated forcings and early results from CMIP7 simulations, including new experimental designs and MIPs. It will also highlight the expanding observation-modelling interface, address strategies for streamlining the climate information chain, and forge a vision and global partnerships to deliver sustained and high quality climate information to all users
Methodology
Comprehensive documentation is available at climate-ref.readthedocs.io.
Licensing and access
The CMIP Rapid Evaluation Framework funded by the European Space Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. The tools developed as part of this project are publicly available.