The ICON atmosphere model (ICON-A) constitutes the atmospheric component of the ICON modeling system. ICON-A combines the non-hydrostatic dynamical core with three optional parameterization packages: one for numerical weather prediction (NWP) developed by the German Weather Service DWD, and two for research applications, both developed at MPI-M, in the high-resolution Sapphire and long simulation Ruby realms, respectively.

ICON-A in the Sapphire realm:

• Stevens, B. et al. (2020). The added value of large-eddy and storm-resolving models for simulating clouds and precipitation. Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 98, 395-435. doi:10.2151/jmsj.2020-021
• Hohenegger, C., Kornblueh, L., Klocke, D., Becker, T., Cioni, G., Engels, J., Schulzweida, U. & Stevens, B. (2020). Climate statistics in global simulations of the atmosphere from 80 to 2.5 km grid spacing. Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 98, 73-91. doi:10.2151/jmsj.2020-005
• Heinze, R. et al. (2017). Large-eddy simulations over Germany using ICON: a comprehensive evaluation. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 143(702), 69–100. doi:10.1002/qj.2947

ICON-A in the Ruby realm:

• Giorgetta, M. A., Brokopf, R., Crueger, T., Esch, M., Fiedler, S., Helmert, J., … Stevens, B. (2018). ICON-A, the atmosphere component of the ICON Earth system model: I. Model description. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10. doi.org/10.1029/2017MS001242
• Crueger, T., Giorgetta, M. A., Brokopf, R., Esch, M., Fiedler, S., Hohenegger, C., … Stevens, B. (2018). ICON-A, the atmosphere component of the ICON Earth system model: II. Model evaluation. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10. doi.org/10.1029/2017MS001233