  The climate is a non-equilibrium system undergoing the continuous action of
forcing and dissipation. Under the effect of a spatially inhomogeneous
absorption of solar energy, all the climate components dynamically respond
until an approximate steady state (or attractor) is reached. However, multiple
steady states can co-exist for a given forcing and with the same boundary
conditions. Here, we apply the Thermodynamic Diagnostic Tool (TheDiaTo) to
investigate the statistical properties of five co-existing climates, ranging
from a snowball to an ice-free aquaplanet, obtained in MITgcm coupled
simulations. The aim is to explore the multistability of the climate model
setup by highlighting differences in competing steady states and their
characteristic signatures regarding the meridional transport of heat and water
mass, the Lorenz energy cycle and the material entropy production. We also
investigate how such attractors change when the model configuration is varied.
We consider, in particular, the effect of changing the representation of the
cloud albedo, and of implementing an improved closure of the energy budget. We
find that, even if the dynamics remains on the same attractor, state variables
are modified. The set of metrics in TheDiaTo quantifies such modifications and
represents a valuable tool for model evaluation.
