Sea-Ice Model Component (CICE)
What is CICE?
CICE is a software package developed by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory team with funding from the US Department of Energy. CICE models the dynamics and thermodynamics of ice. It calculates the complex physics of sea ice, such as how it freezes, melts, and moves across the ocean’s surface, and how it is influenced by external forces such as the ocean’s currents and winds.
The software program is managed by the CICE Consortium, an international group of institutions formed to maintain and develop CICE in the public domain.
CICE5 is the version currently used in ACCESS, but CICE6 is under development.
How is CICE used?
Research and forecasting organizations in more than 20 countries have incorporated CICE into their work.
This software helps scientists around the world to understand how sea ice influences climate. CICE can model the complex interactions between sea ice, the atmosphere, and the ocean to create accurate projections of what the Earth System might do over periods of hundreds of years.
CICE is able to accurately predict near-term sea ice conditions, which is a useful tool for those who operate in polar regions. For example, the U.S. Navy uses CICE to produce predictions of the ice after it is linked with other ocean and atmospheric computer models, and then submits those predictions to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. National Ice Center to be distributed as part of their environmental forecast products.