---
title: ICON
---
(ICON-DYAMOND-SUMMER)=
# ICON

## Model description

ICON is a non-hydrostatic model discretized over an icosahedral grid as described by [Zängl et al. (2015)](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.2378/full). Here it is run in a global configuration using a setup similar to [Klocke et al. (2017)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-017-0005-4).

**Contact:**  
[Luis Kornblueh](mailto:luis.kornblueh@mpimet.mpg.de), Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-MET), DE

## Data structure

### Vertical
The number of vertical levels is 90. A detailed description of the placement of the vertical levels can be downloaded [here](ICON-vertical.grid).

### Horizontal
ICON employs horizontal grid spacing of 5 km (R2B9) and 2.5 km (R2B10), comprising 20,971,520 (5 km) and 83,886,080 (2.5 km) grid columns, respectively.



### Full State Variables (3D), Output Interval: PT01H
Output will be written from level 17 (ca. 40 km) onwards.

| Variable    | Description                |
|-------------|----------------------------|
| u           | zonal wind                 |
| v           | meridional wind            |
| w           | vertical wind              |
| temp        | actual temperature         |
| pres        | pressure                   |
| qv          | specific humidity          |
| tot_qc_dia  | specific cloud water       |
| tot_qi_dia  | specific cloud ice         |

### Selected Horizontal Slices (2D), Output Interval: PT15M

| Variable   | Description                                         |
|------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| u_10m      | zonal wind at 10 m                                  |
| v_10m      | meridional wind at 10 m                             |
| t_2m       | temperature at 2 m                                  |
| qv_2m      | specific water vapor at 2 m                         |
| tqv_dia    | total column integrated water vapor                  |
| tqc_dia    | total column integrated cloud water                  |
| tqi_dia    | total column integrated cloud ice                    |
| tqg        | total column integrated graupel                      |
| tqs        | total column integrated snow                         |
| tqr        | total column integrated rain                         |
| clct       | total cloud cover                                    |
| lhfl_s     | surface latent heat flux                             |
| shfl_s     | surface sensible heat flux                           |
| asob_s     | surface net solar radiation mean since model start   |
| athb_s     | surface net thermal radiation mean since model start |
| asob_t     | TOA net solar radiation mean since model start       |
| athb_t     | TOA net thermal radiation mean since model start     |
| asou_t     | Top up solar radiation [W/m2], accumulated           |
| asodifu_s  | Surface shortwave diffuse upward flux                |
| athd_s     | Surface down thermal radiation [W/m2], accumulated   |
| athu_s     | Surface up thermal radiation [W/m2], accumulated     |
| pres_sfc   | surface pressure                                    |
| tot_prec   | total precipitation                                 |
| cape_ml    | conv. avail. pot. energy of mean surf. layer parcel  |
| cin_ml     | conv. inhib. of mean surf. layer parcel              |
| t_g        | ground temperature                                  |
| qv_s       | surface specific humidity                            |
| ufml_s     | u momentum flux at surface                           |
| vfml_s     | v momentum flux at surface                           |

## Initialisation and Boundary conditions

### Soil Initialisation
Initial soil data are derived from the ECMWF IFS model state at the initialisation date and time.

### Input Data
ICON uses the provided initial and boundary data as described on the {ref}`DYAMOND Summer <dyamond-summer>` page.