An extended N cycle in the eddy-permitting global ocean model ICON-O

Nitrogen (N) plays a central role in marine biogeochemistry by regulating biological productivity, influencing the cycles of carbon, oxygen, and other nutrients, and controlling oceanic emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O). Although the marine N cycle consists of multiple chemical species, global biogeochemical models often employ simple parameterizations of N transformations and omit key tracers and processes. Here we present an extended numerical representation of the marine N cycle that includes explicit tracers for nitrate, dinitrogen, nitrous oxide, ammonium, and nitrite. The extended model simulates heterotrophic denitrification, DNRN, DNRA, anammox, and nitrification of ammonium and nitrite and thus allows for a detailed representation of a step-wise reduction of fixed nitrogen in hypoxic zones and oxidation of reduced N-species in oxic waters. The updated biogeochemical model is included in the new global ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic Ocean model ICON-O developed at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. ICON-O features a flexible, triangular grid created by recursively subdividing the original 20 triangles of the icosahedron resulting, in our configuration, in an average resolution of 40 km and 235,403 triangles. We describe the tuning and spin-up of a pre-industrial control simulation and compare model results with global and local estimates to quantify the N cycle (e.g., rates of primary production, N₂ fixation, nitrification, DNRN, DNRA, anammox). We further report results from a historical transient simulation focusing on N dynamics within the oxygen minimum zone of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific.