The Climatological Data Ice Model (dice5) functions as the sea ice component in a CCSM configuration. Recall that a configuration consists of various independent component models (e.g. atmosphere, land, ocean, sea-ice), each connected to a coupler. This sea ice model component interacts with the CCSM Coupler just like any ice model would, but it is not an active model, rather, it takes SST data from an input data file, infers an ice extent, and sends this data to the Coupler, ignoring any forcing data received from the Coupler. Typically the input data file contains climatological SST data (e.g. from Shea, Trenberth, & Reynolds). Such a "dummy" ice model is useful for seeing how an active atmosphere component behaves when coupled to climatological ice extent.
Important note: When assembling a CCSM configuration, the user must carefully consider the limitations and requirements of all components and make sure that the complete set of component models will interact in a meaningful way. In particular, the user must verify that the data provided by this model is adequate for their specific application.