Mid-twenty-first century warm season climate change in the Central United States. Part I: regional and global model predictions

A regional climate model (RCM) constrained by future anomalies averaged from atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) simulations is used to generate mid-twenty-first century climate change predictions at 30-km resolution over the central U.S. The predictions are compared with those from 15 AOGCM and 7 RCM dynamic downscaling simulations to identify common climate change signals. There is strong agreement among the multi-model ensemble in predicting wetter conditions in April and May over the northern Great Plains and drier conditions over the southern Great Plains in June through August for the mid-twenty-first century. Projected changes in extreme daily precipitation are statistically significant over only a limited portion of the central U.S. in the RCM constrained with future anomalies. Projected changes in monthly mean 2-m air temperature are generally consistent across the AOGCM ensemble average, North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program RCM ensemble average, and RCM constrained with future anomalies, which produce a maximum increase in August of 2.4–2.9 K over the northern and southern Great Plains and Midwest. Changes in extremes in daily 2-m air temperature from the RCM downscaled with anomalies are statistically significant over nearly the entire Great Plains and Midwest and indicate a positive shift in the warm tail of the daily 2-m temperature distribution that is larger than the positive shift in the cold tail.     

Monsoon circulation interaction with Western Ghats orography under changing climate

In this study, the authors have investigated the likely future changes in the summer monsoon over the Western Ghats (WG) orographic region of India in response to global warming, using time-slice simulations of an ultra high-resolution global climate model and climate datasets of recent past. The model with approximately 20-km mesh horizontal resolution resolves orographic features on finer spatial scales leading to a quasi-realistic simulation of the spatial distribution of the present-day summer monsoon rainfall over India and trends in monsoon rainfall over the west coast of India. As a result, a higher degree of confidence appears to emerge in many aspects of the 20-km model simulation, and therefore, we can have better confidence in the validity of the model prediction of future changes in the climate over WG mountains. Our analysis suggests that the summer mean rainfall and the vertical velocities over the orographic regions of Western Ghats have significantly weakened during the recent past and the model simulates these features realistically in the present-day climate simulation. Under future climate scenario, by the end of the twenty-first century, the model projects reduced orographic precipitation over the narrow Western Ghats south of 16°N that is found to be associated with drastic reduction in the southwesterly winds and moisture transport into the region, weakening of the summer mean meridional circulation and diminished vertical velocities. We show that this is due to larger upper tropospheric warming relative to the surface and lower levels, which decreases the lapse rate causing an increase in vertical moist static stability (which in turn inhibits vertical ascent) in response to global warming. Increased stability that weakens vertical velocities leads to reduction in large-scale precipitation which is found to be the major contributor to summer mean rainfall over WG orographic region. This is further corroborated by a significant decrease in the frequency of moderate-to-heavy rainfall days over WG which is a typical manifestation of the decrease in large-scale precipitation over this region. Thus, the drastic reduction of vertical ascent and weakening of circulation due to ??upper tropospheric warming effect?? predominates over the ??moisture build-up effect?? in reducing the rainfall over this narrow orographic region. This analysis illustrates that monsoon rainfall over mountainous regions is strongly controlled by processes and parameterized physics which need to be resolved with adequately high resolution for accurate assessment of local and regional-scale climate change.     

Mid-twenty-first century climate change in the Central United States. Part II: Climate change processes

Ensemble regional model simulations over the central US with 30-km resolution are analyzed to investigate the physical processes of projected precipitation changes in the mid-twenty-first century under greenhouse gas forcing. An atmospheric moisture balance is constructed, and changes in the diurnal cycle are evaluated. Wetter conditions over the central US in April and May occur most strongly in the afternoon and evening, supported primarily by moisture convergence by transient eddy activity, indicating enhanced daytime convection. In June, increased rainfall over the northern Great Plains is strongest from 0000 to 0600 LT. It is supported by positive changes in stationary meridional moisture convergence related to a strengthening of the GPLLJ accompanied by an intensification of the western extension of the North Atlantic subtropical high. In the Midwest, decreased rainfall is strongest at 1500 LT and 0000 LT. Both a suppression of daytime convection as well as changes in the zonal flow in the GPLLJ exit region are important. Future drying over the northern Great Plains in summer is triggered by weakened daytime convection, and persists throughout August and September when a deficit in soil moisture develops and land–atmosphere feedbacks become increasingly important.     

How well are daily intense rainfall events captured by current climate models over Africa?

The ability of state-of-the-art climate models to capture the mean spatial and temporal characteristics of daily intense rainfall events over Africa is evaluated by analyzing regional climate model (RCM) simulations at 90- and 30-km along with output from four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) and coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project 5. Daily intense rainfall events are extracted at grid point scale using a 95th percentile threshold approach applied to all rainy days (i.e., daily rainfall ≥1 mm day^?1) over the 1998–2008 period for which two satellite-derived precipitation products are available. Both RCM simulations provide similar results. They accurately capture the spatial and temporal characteristics of intense events, while they tend to overestimate their number and underestimate their intensity. The skill of AGCMs and AOGCMs is generally similar over the African continent and similar to previous global climate model generations. The majority of the AGCMs and AOGCMs greatly overestimate the frequency of intense events, particularly in the tropics, generally fail at simulating the observed intensity, and systematically overestimate their spatial coverage. The RCM performs at least as well as the most accurate global climate model, demonstrating a clear added value to general circulation model simulations and the usefulness of regional modeling for investigating the physics leading to intense events and their change under global warming.     

East Asian summer monsoon simulation by a 20-km mesh AGCM

East Asian summer monsoon climate simulated by a global 20-km mesh atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) forced by the global sea surface temperature during the period 1979–1998 is investigated. In comparison with a lower resolution (180-km mesh) model experiment, it is revealed that the 20-km mesh AGCM shows the superiority in simulating orographic rainfall not only its location but also its amount. The Baiu frontal structure is also better simulated in the higher resolution model, which leads to stronger Baiu rainfall. The 20-km model also shows more intense extremes in precipitation. Interannual variability of June–August mean precipitation and seasonal march of the monsoon rain band are also investigated. This paper is a contribution to the AMIP-CMIP Diagnostic Sub-project on General Circulation Model Simulation of the East Asian Climate, coordinated by W.-C. Wang.     

Improvements in WRF simulation skills of southeastern United States summer rainfall: physical parameterization and horizontal resolution

Realistic regional climate simulations are important in understanding the mechanisms of summer rainfall in the southeastern United States (SE US) and in making seasonal predictions. In this study, skills of SE US summer rainfall simulation at a 15-km resolution are evaluated using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model driven by climate forecast system reanalysis data. Influences of parameterization schemes and model resolution on the rainfall are investigated. It is shown that the WRF simulations for SE US summer rainfall are most sensitive to cumulus schemes, moderately sensitive to planetary boundary layer schemes, and less sensitive to microphysics schemes. Among five WRF cumulus schemes analyzed in this study, the Zhang–McFarlane scheme outperforms the other four. Further analysis suggests that the superior performance of the Zhang–McFarlane scheme is attributable primarily to its capability of representing rainfall-triggering processes over the SE US, especially the positive relationship between convective available potential energy and rainfall. In addition, simulated rainfall using the Zhang–McFarlane scheme at the 15-km resolution is compared with that at a 3-km convection-permitting resolution without cumulus scheme to test whether the increased horizontal resolution can further improve the SE US rainfall simulation. Results indicate that the simulations at the 3-km resolution do not show obvious advantages over those at the 15-km resolution with the Zhang–McFarlane scheme. In conclusion, our study suggests that in order to obtain a satisfactory simulation of SE US summer rainfall, choosing a cumulus scheme that can realistically represent the convective rainfall triggering mechanism may be more effective than solely increasing model resolution.     

The Effects of Model Resolution on the Simulation of Regional Climate Extreme Events

The fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 3 (MM5V3) was used to simulate extreme heavy rainfall events over the Yangtze River Basin in June 1999. The effects of model's horizontal and vertical resolution on the extreme climate events were investigated in detail. In principle, the model was able to characterize the spatial distribution of monthly heavy precipitation. The results indicated that the increase in horizontal resolution could reduce the bias of the modeled heavy rain and reasonably simulate the change of daily precipitation during the study period. A finer vertical resolution led to obviously improve rainfall simulations with smaller biases, and hence, better resolve heavy rainfall events. The increase in both horizontal and vertical resolution could produce better predictions of heavy rainfall events. Not only the rainfall simulation altered in the cases of different horizontal and vertical grid spacing, but also other meteorological fields demonstrated diverse variations in terms of resolution change in the model. An evident improvement in the simulated sea level pressure resulted from the increase of horizontal resolution, but the simulation was insensitive to vertical grid spacing. The increase in vertical resolution could enhance the simulation of surface temperature as well as atmospheric circulation at low levels, while the simulation of circulation at middle and upper levels were found to be much less dependent on changing resolution. In addition, cumulus parameterization schemes showed high sensitivity to horizontal resolution. Different convective schemes exhibited large discrepancies in rainfall simulations with regards to changing resolution. The percentage of convective precipitation in the Grell scheme increased with increasing horizontal resolution. In contrast, the Kain-Fritsch scheme caused a reduced ratio of convective precipitation to total rainfall accumulations corresponding to increasing horizontal resolution.     

MRI模式对华南春雨气候态及年际变率的模拟：不同模式分辨率的比较

本文利用日本气象研究所（MRI）参加第五次国际耦合模式比较计划（CMIP5）的大气环流模式在高、中、低三种分辨率下的AMIP试验结果,评估了其对华南春雨气候态和年际变率的模拟能力,比较了不同分辨率的模拟结果。结果表明,三种不同水平分辨率（120 km、60 km和20 km）的模式均能再现北半球春季位于中国东南部的降水中心。相较于120 km模式,20 km模式能够更为合理地模拟出华南春雨位于南岭—武夷山脉的降水中心。水汽收支分析表明,60 km、20 km模式高估了水汽辐合,使得华南春雨的降水强度被高估。在年际变率方面,在三种分辨率下,模式均能较好地再现观测中El Ni?o衰减年春季的西北太平洋反气旋以及华南春雨降水正异常。较之120 km模式,60 km、20 km模式模拟的降水正异常的空间分布和强度更接近观测,原因是后者模拟的El Ni?o衰减年春季华南地区的水平水汽平流异常更接近观测。本研究表明,发展高分辨率气候模式是提高华南春雨的气候态和年际变率模拟水平的有效途径之一。     

Simulation and Projection of Changes in Rainy Season Precipitation over China Using the WRF Model

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used in a regional climate model configuration to simulate past precipitation climate of China during the rainy season (May-September) of 1981-2000, and to investigate potential future (2041-2060 and 2081-2100) changes in precipitation over China relative to the reference period 1981-2000. WRF is run with initial conditions from a coupled general circulation model, i.e., the high-resolution version of MIROC (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate). WRF reproduces the observed distribution of rainy season precipitation in 1981-2000 and its interannual variations better than MIROC. MIROC projects increases in rainy season precipitation over most parts of China and decreases of more than 25 mm over parts of Taiwan and central Tibet by the mid-21st century. WRF projects decreases in rainfall over southern Tibetan Plateau, Southwest China, and northwestern part of Northeast China, and increases in rainfall by more than 100 mm along the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and over the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during 2041-2060. MIROC projects further increases in rainfall over most of China by the end of the 21st century, although simulated rainfall decreases by more than 25 mm over parts of Taiwan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and central Tibet. WRF projects increased rainfall of more than 100 mm along the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and over the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and decreased rainfall over Southwest China, and southern Tibetan Plateau by the end of the 21st century.     

RegCM3对全球变暖背景下中国东部季风降水和雨型变化的模拟

The authors investigate possible changes of monsoon rainfall and associated seasonal (June-JulyAugust) anomaly patterns over eastern China in the late 21st century under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A2 emission scenario as simulated by a high-resolution regional climate model (RegCM3) nested in a general circulation model (FvGCM/CCM3).Two sets of multi-decadal simulations are performed at 20-km grid spacing for present day and future climate conditions.Results show that the RegCM3 reproduces the mean rainfall distribution;however the evolution of the monsoon rain belt from South China to North China is not well simulated.Concerning the rain pattern classifications,RegCM3 overestimates the occurrence of Pattern 1 (excessive rainfall in northern China) and underestimates that of Pattern 2 (increased rainfall over the Huai River basin).Under future climate conditions,RegCM3 projects less occurrence of Pattern 1,more of Pattern 2,and little change of Pattern 3 (rainfall increase along the Yangtze River).These results indicate that there might be increased rainfall over the Huai-Yellow River area and reduced rainfall over North China in the future,while rainfall over the lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin is not modified significantly.Uncertainties exist in the present study are also discussed.     

Very high-resolution climate simulation over Fiji using a global variable-resolution model

A high-resolution climate model simulation has been performed for the first time for Fiji’s climatology. The simulation involved a numerical experiment for a 10-year period (1975–1984), and was conducted at a horizontal resolution of 8 km in a stretched-grid configuration, which is currently the highest resolution at which a global climate model has been applied for regional climatological simulations. Analysis of model-generated data demonstrates a fairly good skill of the CSIRO Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (C-CAM) in the simulation of the annual cycles of maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall at selected locations in Fiji. The model has also successfully reproduced the pattern of maximum and minimum surface air temperatures between the western and central divisions of Fiji. Model simulation of spatial and temporal distribution of monthly total rainfall (10-year mean) over the main island of Viti Levu in Fiji shows that it reproduces the observed intraseasonal and interannual variability; the influence of the El Niño phenomena has also been captured well in the model-simulated rainfall.     

The first multi-model ensemble of regional climate simulations at kilometer-scale resolution part 2: historical and future simulations of precipitation

This paper presents the first multi-model ensemble of 10-year, “convection-permitting” kilometer-scale regional climate model (RCM) scenario simulations downscaled from selected CMIP5 GCM projections for historical and end of century time slices. The technique is to first downscale the CMIP5 GCM projections to an intermediate 12–15 km resolution grid using RCMs, and then use these fields to downscale further to the kilometer scale. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the representation of the precipitation characteristics and their projected changes over the greater Alpine domain within a Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment Flagship Pilot Study and the European Climate Prediction system project, tasked with investigating convective processes at the kilometer scale. An ensemble of 12 simulations performed by different research groups around Europe is analyzed. The simulations are evaluated through comparison with high resolution observations while the complementary ensemble of 12 km resolution driving models is used as a benchmark to evaluate the added value of the convection-permitting ensemble. The results show that the kilometer-scale ensemble is able to improve the representation of fine scale details of mean daily, wet-day/hour frequency, wet-day/hour intensity and heavy precipitation on a seasonal scale, reducing uncertainty over some regions. It also improves the representation of the summer diurnal cycle, showing more realistic onset and peak of convection. The kilometer-scale ensemble refines and enhances the projected patterns of change from the coarser resolution simulations and even modifies the sign of the precipitation intensity change and heavy precipitation over some regions. The convection permitting simulations also show larger changes for all indices over the diurnal cycle, also suggesting a change in the duration of convection over some regions. A larger positive change of frequency of heavy to severe precipitation is found. The results are encouraging towards the use of convection-permitting model ensembles to produce robust assessments of the local impacts of future climate change.

     

温室效应对我国东部地区气候影响的高分辨率数值试验

使用RegCM3区域气候模式,单向嵌套NASA/NCAR 的全球环流模式FvGCM的输出结果,对中国东部地区进行了在实际温室气体浓度下当代1961~1990年和在IPCC A2温室气体排放情景下21世纪末期2071~2100年各30年时间长度,水平分辨率为20 km的气候变化模拟试验。首先分析全球和区域模式对中国东部地区当代气候的模拟情况,结果表明全球模式对中国东部地区气温的总体分布型模拟较好,但存在冷偏差,区域模式在对这个冷偏差有所纠正的同时,提供了气温地理分布更详细的信息。全球模式模拟的年降水中心位于长江流域,与观测差别较大,区域模式对此同样也有改进,降水高值区主要位于区域南部,并表现出较强的地形强迫特征。区域模式的模拟结果还表明,至21世纪末期,在温室效应作用下,中国东部的气温将明显升高,年平均气温的升高值在2.7~4.0℃之间,其中北部升温大于南部,冬季升温大于夏季。冬季升温表现出明显的随纬度增加而增加的分布型。模拟区域内年平均降水将增加,增加值一般在10%以上,部分地区达到30%。降水增加在夏季较明显,区域内以普遍增加为主,冬季降水自山东半岛至湖南地区将减少,其他地区增加。此外,对夏季高温日数和冬季低温日数及年平均大雨日数的变化也进行了分析。     

Development of regional future climate change scenarios in South America using the Eta CPTEC/HadCM3 climate change projections: climatology and regional analyses for the Amazon, S?o Francisco and the Paraná River basins

The objective of this study is to assess the climate projections over South America using the Eta-CPTEC regional model driven by four members of an ensemble of the Met Office Hadley Centre Global Coupled climate model HadCM3. The global model ensemble was run over the twenty-first century according to the SRES A1B emissions scenario, but with each member having a different climate sensitivity. The four members selected to drive the Eta-CPTEC model span the sensitivity range in the global model ensemble. The Eta-CPTEC model nested in these lateral boundary conditions was configured with a 40-km grid size and was run over 1961–1990 to represent baseline climate, and 2011–2100 to simulate possible future changes. Results presented here focus on austral summer and winter climate of 2011–2040, 2041–2070 and 2071–2100 periods, for South America and for three major river basins in Brazil. Projections of changes in upper and low-level circulation and the mean sea level pressure (SLP) fields simulate a pattern of weakening of the tropical circulation and strengthening of the subtropical circulation, marked by intensification at the surface of the Chaco Low and the subtropical highs. Strong warming (4–6°C) of continental South America increases the temperature gradient between continental South America and the South Atlantic. This leads to stronger SLP gradients between continent and oceans, and to changes in moisture transport and rainfall. Large rainfall reductions are simulated in Amazonia and Northeast Brazil (reaching up to 40%), and rainfall increases around the northern coast of Peru and Ecuador and in southeastern South America, reaching up to 30% in northern Argentina. All changes are more intense after 2040. The Precipitation–Evaporation (P–E) difference in the A1B downscaled scenario suggest water deficits and river runoff reductions in the eastern Amazon and S?o Francisco Basin, making these regions susceptible to drier conditions and droughts in the future.     

U.S. Climate Sensitivity Simulated with the NCEP Regional Spectral Model

10-year continuous U.S. climate simulations were conducted with the Regional Spectral Model (RSM) using boundary conditions from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/Dept. of Energy reanalyses and the global PCM (Parallel Climate Model) simulations for present day (1986–1996) andfuture (2040–2050) CO₂ concentrations (about a 36% increasedCO₂). In order to examine the influence of physical parameterization differences as well as grid-resolution, fine resolution RSM simulations (50 km) were compared to coarse resolution (180 and 250 km) RSM simulations, which had resolutions comparable to the T62 reanalysis and PCM simulations. During the winter, the fine resolution RSM simulations provided more realistic detail over the western mountains. During the summer, large differences between the RSM and driving PCM simulations were found. Our results with presentCO₂ suggest that most of the differences between the regionalclimate model simulations and the climate simulations driven by the global model used to drive the regional climate model were not due to the finer resolution of the regional climate model but to the different treatment of the physical processes in the two models, especially when the subgrid scale physics was important, like during summer. Compared to the coarse resolution RSM simulation results, on the other hand, the fine resolution RSM simulations did show improved simulation skills especially when a good boundary condition such as the reanalysis was used to drive the RSM. Under increased CO₂, the driving PCM and downscaled RSM simulations exhibitedwarming over all vertical layers and all regions. Both the RSM and PCM had increased precipitation during the winter, but during the summer, the PCM simulation had an overall precipitation increase mainly due to increased subgrid scale convective activity, whereas the RSM simulations exhibited precipitation decreases and the resulting RSM soil moisture became dryer, especially in the U.S. Southwest. Most of differences in the simulated climate change signals were produced by the distinct model physics rather than by differences in grid resolution.     

The role of the simulation setup in a long-term high-resolution climate change projection for the southern African region

High-resolution regional climate change simulations have proven to offer an added value compared to available global climate model simulations. However, over many regions of the globe, long-term high-resolution climate change projections are rather sparse. We present a transient high-resolution climate change projection with the regional climate model with the regional climate model REMO over the southern African region, following the SRES A1B emission scenario. The simulation was conducted at 18?km grid spacing for the period from 1960 to 2100, making it to the longest available climate change projection at such a high resolution for the region. In the first part of the study, we focus on the impact of the model setup on the simulated rainfall over the southern African region. In the standard setup, we used the output of the global climate model ECHAM5/MPIOM directly to force REMO. This setup led to a very strong wet bias over the region. Changing it to the double-nesting setup significantly reduced this bias, but a substantial wet bias still persists. The remaining bias could partly be attributed to a warm bias in the SST forcing over the southern Atlantic Ocean. Thus, we applied an SST correction based on the anomaly approach to the data, which led to a further improvement of the rainfall simulation. As the SST bias in the southern Atlantic is a common feature of all global climate models assessed by the IPCC, we recommend the chosen model setup, including the SST correction, as general procedure for dynamical downscaling studies over the southern African region. In the second part, we present the projected spatial and temporal changes of temperature and precipitation, including several rainfall characteristics, over the southern African region. Herby we compare the projections of the high-resolution REMO simulation to those of the forcing regional and global models. We generally find that for temperature the magnitude of the projected changes of the regional model only slightly differs from the GCM projection; however, the spatial patterns are much better resolved in the RCM projections. For precipitation, REMO shows a more intense drying toward the end of the twenty-first century than it is simulated by the global model. This can have a major influence when investigating the impacts of future climate change on a regional or even local scale. In combination with the improved spatial patterns, the application of high-resolution climate change information could therefore improve the results of such applications.     

Mesoscale Structure of Trade Wind Convection over Puerto Rico: Composite Observations and Numerical Simulation

We examine the mesoscale structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), low-level circulation, and trade wind convection over the sub-tropical island of Puerto Rico in mid-summer. Shallow afternoon thunderstorms are frequently seen over the western plains of the island. Observational data include automatic weather station measurements, radiosonde profiles, infrared satellite images, and mesoscale reanalysis data with a focus on the summer of 2006. Satellite microwave radar data (TRMM and CloudSat) indicate that island clouds typically extend just above the −20°C level during afternoon hours with reflectivity values reaching 50 dBz. A singular value decomposition of 3-hourly high resolution satellite rainfall maps reveals an island mode. From this a composite is constructed for a group of ten cases. With a Froude number ≈1 the trade winds pass over the mountains and standing vortices and gravity waves are trapped in the meandering wake. The Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model at 1-km resolution with 51 vertical layers is used to simulate the short-lived thunderstorms for two cases: 27 June and 20 July 2006. The model correctly locates the convective cells that develop between 1400 and 1700 LST. The shallow afternoon thunderstorms are triggered by surface heat fluxes, confluent sea breezes and a mountain wake. Recommendations for enhanced observations are given.     

Impact of climate change on mid-twenty-first century growing seasons in Africa

Changes in growing seasons for 2041–2060 across Africa are projected using a regional climate model at 90-km resolution, and confidence in the predictions is evaluated. The response is highly regional over West Africa, with decreases in growing season days up to 20% in the western Guinean coast and some regions to the east experiencing 5–10% increases. A longer growing season up to 30% in the central and eastern Sahel is predicted, with shorter seasons in parts of the western Sahel. In East Africa, the short rains (boreal fall) growing season is extended as the Indian Ocean warms, but anomalous mid-tropospheric moisture divergence and a northward shift of Sahel rainfall severely curtails the long rains (boreal spring) season. Enhanced rainfall in January and February increases the growing season in the Congo basin by 5–15% in association with enhanced southwesterly moisture transport from the tropical Atlantic. In Angola and the southern Congo basin, 40–80% reductions in austral spring growing season days are associated with reduced precipitation and increased evapotranspiration. Large simulated reductions in growing season over southeastern Africa are judged to be inaccurate because they occur due to a reduction in rainfall in winter which is over-produced in the model. Only small decreases in the actual growing season are simulated when evapotranspiration increases in the warmer climate. The continent-wide changes in growing season are primarily the result of increased evapotranspiration over the warmed land, changes in the intensity and seasonal cycle of the thermal low, and warming of the Indian Ocean.     

Projection of Water Availability in the Miyun Watershed from an RCM Simulation

Based on a high-resolution regional climate model (RegCM3) simulation over East Asia, future climate changes over the Miyun Reservoir in the 21st century under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario are analyzed. The model simulation extends from 1951 to 2100 at a grid spacing of 25 km and is one-way nested within a global model of MIROC3.2_ hires (the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate). The focus of the analysis is on the Watershed of Miyun Reservoir, the main water supply for Beijing in northern China. The results show that RegCM3 reproduces the observed temperature well but it overestimates precipitation over the region. Significant warming in the 21st century is simulated in the annual mean, December-January-February (DJF) and June-July-August (JJA), although with differences concerning the spatial distribution and magnitude. Changes in precipitation for the annual mean, DJF, and JJA also show differences. A prevailing increase of precipitation in DJF and a decrease of it in JJA is projected over the region, while little change in the annual mean is projected. Changes of the difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration to measure the potential water availability are also presented in the paper.     

Evaluation of an ensemble of regional climate model simulations over South America driven by the ERA-Interim reanalysis: model performance and uncertainties

The capability of a set of 7 coordinated regional climate model simulations performed in the framework of the CLARIS-LPB Project in reproducing the mean climate conditions over the South American continent has been evaluated. The model simulations were forced by the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset for the period 1990–2008 on a grid resolution of 50 km, following the CORDEX protocol. The analysis was focused on evaluating the reliability of simulating mean precipitation and surface air temperature, which are the variables most commonly used for impact studies. Both the common features and the differences among individual models have been evaluated and compared against several observational datasets. In this study the ensemble bias and the degree of agreement among individual models have been quantified. The evaluation was focused on the seasonal means, the area-averaged annual cycles and the frequency distributions of monthly means over target sub-regions. Results show that the Regional Climate Model ensemble reproduces adequately well these features, with biases mostly within ±2 °C and ±20 % for temperature and precipitation, respectively. However, the multi-model ensemble depicts larger biases and larger uncertainty (as defined by the standard deviation of the models) over tropical regions compared with subtropical regions. Though some systematic biases were detected particularly over the La Plata Basin region, such as underestimation of rainfall during winter months and overestimation of temperature during summer months, every model shares a similar behavior and, consequently, the uncertainty in simulating current climate conditions is low. Every model is able to capture the variety in the shape of the frequency distribution for both temperature and precipitation along the South American continent. Differences among individual models and observations revealed the nature of individual model biases, showing either a shift in the distribution or an overestimation or underestimation of the range of variability.