NICAM is a non-hydrostatic model designed for global high-resolution simulations, often referred to as a "Global Cloud Resolving Model (GCRM)". It is widely used on flagship supercomputers (e.g., K computer (AICS,RIKEN), Earth Simulator (JAMSTEC)) and University supercomputers, often at 14 km, 7 km, and 3.5 km meshes. The current finest mesh available is 870 m, when run on the K computer (Miyamoto et al. 2013). NICAM is known for its skills in simulating phenomena related with tropical convection, such as the Madden-Julian Oscillation (Miura et al. 2007, Miyakawa et al. 2014) and tropical cyclones (Nakano et al. 2015). NICAM is also used as a low-resolution Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), and as a regional cloud resolving model based on stretched grids (Stretch-NICAM). A coupled version with a full dynamical ocean (NICOCO) is currently under verification.
NICAM was first developed by H.Tomita and M.Satoh, and is now under development in cooperation with AORI (Tokyo Univ.), JAMSTEC, and AICS (RIKEN). Detailed information can be found in Satoh et al. (2014, PEPS), Satoh et al.(2008, J.Comp. Physics), and the NICAM official webpage.