Weather forecasts and climate predictions from ground to thermosphere with the ICON model

The mesosphere and lower thermosphere at 50-200 km altitude is subject to highly dynamical physical and chemical processes that are driven by solar and magnetospheric forcing from above and by meteorological disturbances from below. This layer is of increasing societal relevance as its weather directly affects the functionality of ground- and space-based communication and navigation systems, and the lifetime and trajectories of low-earth-orbiting satellites and (re-)entering objects. Gravity waves are essential for coupling all atmospheric layers, from the troposphere to the thermosphere, but are difficult to treat in numerical models. I will present successful multidecadal simulation results as well as case studies conducted at km-resolution, where gravity waves are explicitly resolved. More broadly, I will discuss perspectives and challenges in high-resolution whole atmosphere modelling from both the technical and scientific perspective.