REMO has two different parameterization schemes - the original one called DWD physics and additional the ECHAM4 physics, which is the same parameterization scheme as in the global climate model at MPI. The dynamical scheme is in both cases identical. REMO at MPI can be integrated in forecast as well as in climate mode.

• Rotated spherical grid
• Arakawa-C-grid
• Second order horizontal and vertical differences
•  Leap-frog time stepping with semi-implicit correction and Asselin-filter
•  fourth-order linear horizontal diffusion of momentum, temperature and water content
• Hybrid vertical coordinates
• Prognostic variables: surface pressure, temperature, horizontal wind components, water vapour content, cloud water content.
• Lateral boundary formulation after Davies (1976), which adjusts the prognostic variables in a boundary zone of 8 grid boxes.

• Soil model with 2 layers for the heat budget and 3 layers for the water budget including a snow and interception storage (Jacobsen and Heise, 1982). Monthly mean climatological values are prescribed below these layers.
•  Vertical diffusion after Louis (1979) for the Prandtl layer, extended level-2 scheme after Mellor and Yamada (1974) in the Ekman layer and the free atmosphere including modifications in the presence of clouds.
•  Delta-two-stream radiation scheme after Ritter and Geleyn (1992) with 8 spectral intervals (3 solar, 5 thermal). The cloud radiative properties depend on the cloud water for saturated layers. In subsaturated layers a fractional cloud cover is diagnosed from the relative humidity and the cloud water content is set to 0.5 % of the saturation value. In the case of convective clouds the cloud cover is set to 0.2 and the cloud water content is set to 1 % of the saturation value. No parameterization of the radiative properties of ice clouds is included.
• Grid-scale cloud microphysics parameterization of the Kessler-type with water vapour and cloud water as a prognostic variables. Rainfall and snowfall rates are derived diagnostically assuming stationarity and neglecting advection.
•  Mass-flux convection scheme after Tiedke (1989)

• Soil processes heat transfer: diffusion equation solver in a 5-layer model with zero heat flux at the bottom (10m); water budget equation for three reservoirs: soil moisture, interception reservoir (vegetation), snow; runoff scheme: based on catchment considerations including sub-grid scale variations of field capacity over inhomogeneous terrain (Dümenil and Todini, 1992)
• Vertical diffusion and surface fluxes: turbulent surface fluxes are calculated from Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (Louis, 1979) with a higher order closure scheme for the transfer coefficients of momentum, heat, moisture and cloud water within and above PBL. The eddy diffusion coefficients are calculated as functions of the turbulent kinetic energy E.
• Radiation after Morcrette et al. (1986) with modifications for additional greenhouse gases, 14.6 µm band of ozone and various types of aerosols. Continuum absorption after Giorgetta and Wild (1995).
• Stratiform clouds: water content is calculated from a budget equation including sources and sinks due to phase changes and precipitation formation by coalescense of cloud droplets and gravitational settling of ice crystals (Sundquist, 1978). The convective cloud water detrained at the top of cumulus clouds is used as a source term in stratiform cloud water equation (Roeckner et al., 1996)
• Cumulus convection: Mass flux convection scheme after Tiedtke (1989) with modifications after Nordeng (1994)
• fractional surface cover: land, water, sea ice (Semmler, 2002)
• freezing and thawing of soil water (Semmler, 2002)
• monthly variation of vegetation parameters: background albedo, leaf area index, vegetation ratio (Rechid & Jacob, 2006)

More details about ECHAM4

Davies, H.C., 1976: A lateral boundary formulation for multi-level prediction models. Quart. J. R. Meteor. Soc., 102, 405-418.

Deutsches Klima Rechenzentrum (DKRZ), 1992: The ECHAM3 general circulation model. DKRZ Technical Report, No. 6, edited by Modellbetreuungsgruppe, Hamburg.

Dümenil, L. and E. Todini, 1992: A rainfall-runoff scheme for use in the Hamburg climate model . In: Advances in Theoretical Hydrology, A Tribute to James Dooge (Ed. J.P. O'Kane). European Geophysical Society Series on Hydrological Sciences, 1, Elsevier Press Amsterdam, 129-157

Giorgetta, M. and M. Wild, 1995: The water vapour continuum and its representation in ECHAM4. Max-Planck Institut für Meteorologie Report No. 162, 38pp.

Jacobsen, I. and E. Heise, 1982: A new economic method for the computation of the surface temperature in numerical models. Beitr. Phys. Atm., 55, 128-141.

Louis, J.-F., 1979: A parametric model of vertical eddy fluxes in the atmosphere. Boundary-Layer Meteor., 17, 187-202.

Mellor, G.L. and T. Yamada, 1974: A hierarchy of turbulence closure models for planetary boundary layers. J. Atmos. Sci., 31, 1791-1806.

Morcrette, j.-j., L. Smith and Y. Fourquart, 1986: Pressure and temperature dependance of the absorption in longwave radiation parameterizations. Beitr. Phys. Atmos. 59, 455-469.

Nordeng, T.E., 1994: Extended versions of the convective parametrization scheme at ECMWF and their impact on the mean and transient activity of the model in the tropics. ECMWF Research Department, Technical Momorandum No. 206, October 1994, 41 pp, European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK.

Ritter, B. and J.-F. Geleyn, 1992: A comprehensive radiation scheme for numerical weather prediction models with potential applications in climate simulations. Mon. Wea. Rev., 120, 303-325.

Roeckner, E., K. Arpe, L. Bentsson, M. Christoph, M. Claussen, L. Dümenil, M. Esch, M. Giorgetta, U. Schlese and U. Schulzweida, 1996: The atmospheric genaral circulation model ECHAM-4: Model description and simulation of present day climate. Max-Planck Institut für Meteorologie Report No. 218, 90 pp.

Sundquist, H., 1978: A parameterization scheme for non-convective condensation including precipitation including prediction of cloud water content. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc., 104, 677-690.

Tiedtke, M., 1989: A comprehensive mass flux scheme for cumulus parameterization in large scale models. Mon. Wea. Rev., 117, 1779-1800.