Implementation of primary and secondary ice production in EC-Earth3-AerChem: global impacts and insights

Costa-Surós, Montserrat; Gonçalves Ageitos, María; Chatziparaschos, Marios; Georgakaki, Paraskevi; Thomas, Manu Anna; Montané Pinto, Gilbert; Myriokefalitakis, Stelios; van Noije, Twan; Le Sager, Philippe; Kanakidou, Maria; Nenes, Athanasios; Pérez García-Pando, Carlos

doi:10.5194/acp-26-2667-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2667-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2667-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

Research article

|

19 Feb 2026

Research article |

| 19 Feb 2026

Implementation of primary and secondary ice production in EC-Earth3-AerChem: global impacts and insights

Montserrat Costa-Surós, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Marios Chatziparaschos, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Manu Anna Thomas, Gilbert Montané Pinto, Stelios Myriokefalitakis, Twan van Noije, Philippe Le Sager, Maria Kanakidou, Athanasios Nenes, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2667-2026-supplement

Data sets

Replication Data for: Implementation of Primary and Secondary Ice Production in EC-Earth3-AerChem: Global Impacts and Insights Montserrat Costa-Surós https://doi.org/10.82201/PDFPMF

Annual concentrations of ice nucleating particles at different Arctic stations H. Wex et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899701

Ice Nucleating Particle number concentration from low-volume sampling over the Southern Ocean during the austral summer of 2016/2017 on board the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) (1.1) C. Tatzelt et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4311665

MODIS (Aqua/Terra) Cloud Properties Level 3 monthly, 1x1 degree grid MODIS Atmosphere Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD06COSP_M3_MODIS.062

Replication Data for: Implementation of Primary and Secondary Ice Production in EC-Earth3-AerChem: Global Impacts and Insights Montserrat Costa-Surós https://doi.org/10.82201/PDFPMF

Model code and software

Reproducible figure generation for Costa-Suros et al. (2025, ACP) Montserrat Costa-Surós https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17175726

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Short summary

Mixed-phase clouds play a key role in Earth’s climate but remain poorly represented in climate models. We improved their representation in the EC-Earth model by introducing an aerosol-sensitive scheme for ice formation and a machine-learning approach for secondary ice production. These advances produce more realistic cloud properties and radiative effects, highlighting that both processes are essential for reliable climate projections.