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Community Climate System Model
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<p>The Community Climate System Model (CCSM) is a coupled <a href="/facts/General_circulation_model/6QUar9RF">general circulation model</a> (GCM) developed by the <a href="/facts/University_Corporation_for_Atmospheric_Research/H15pgnem">University Corporation for Atmospheric Research</a> (UCAR) with funding from the <a href="/facts/National_Science_Foundation/FlDT8TbW">National Science Foundation</a> (NSF), the <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_Energy/PRp6Cz8g">Department of Energy</a> (DoE), and the <a href="/facts/National_Aeronautics_and_Space_Administration/TIMCV0yV">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA). The coupled components include an atmospheric model (Community Atmosphere Model), a land-surface model (Community Land Model), an ocean model (<a href="/facts/Parallel_Ocean_Program/UQNSjrHo">Parallel Ocean Program</a>), and a sea ice model (Community Sea Ice Model, <a href="/facts/CICE_(sea_ice_model)/QElyvTXH">CICE</a>). CCSM is maintained by the <a href="/facts/National_Center_for_Atmospheric_Research/7um3PUh3">National Center for Atmospheric Research</a> (NCAR). </p><p>Its software design assumes a physical/dynamical component of the <a href="/facts/Climate_system/5JyveutF">climate system</a> and, as a freely available community model, is designed to work on a variety of <a href="/facts/Technical_architecture/A6k3coAm">machine architectures</a> powerful enough to run the model. The CESM codebase is mostly <a href="/facts/Public_domain/YWKMDKw4">public domain</a> with some segregable components issued under <a href="/facts/Free_software_license/BACv1rju">open source</a> and other licenses. The offline chemical transport model has been described as "very efficient". </p><p>The model includes four submodels (land, sea-ice, ocean and atmosphere) connected by a coupler that exchanges information with the submodels. NCAR suggested that because of this, CCSM cannot be considered a single climate model, but rather a framework for building and testing various climate models. </p>