The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) is the 5th generation of CMIP products from the World Climate Research Programme. CMIP is designed to improve our understanding of past, present and future climate change and its drivers through multi-model developments undertaken as an internationally coordinated research activity defining specific target experiments. The results of CMIP will inform policy makers by forming a key part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report. The data is a core component of the work of many climate scientists, forming a critical component in evaluating the extent and consequence of climate change and extreme events projected for Australia's future.

CMIP6 includes the core Diagnostic, Evaluation and Characterization of Klima (DECK: AMIP, Pre-industrial control simulation - piControl, 1% per yr C0₂ increase - 1pctCO2, abrupt 4xCO₂ run - abrupt4xCO2) and historical experiments, along with 23 endorsed MIPs.

The CMIP6 protocol and experiments are described in a special issue of Geoscientific Model Development with an overview of the design and scientific strategy provided in the lead article of that issue by Eyring et al. (2016). Further information can also be found on the Earth System Documentation (ES-DOC) page: https://es-doc.org/cmip6/ 

A special issue of Geoscientific Model Development provides details of the CMIP6 design, defining the various protocols and experiments. In addition, Eyring et al. (2016) provides an Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization.

For guidelines including instructions on use and citations of data for CMIP6, see: https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/CMIP6/Guide/dataUsers.html. For further details on CMIP data citation best practices also see the CMIP Data Citation page.

Image Source: https://www.knmi.nl/kennis-en-datacentrum/project/cmip6 and adapted from Eyring et al., 2016.