CSIRO Mk3.6.0模式及其驱动下RegCM4.4模式对中国气候变化的预估

使用区域气候模式RegCM4.4,对全球模式CSIRO-Mk3.6.0在RCP4.5情景下的气候变化试验结果（1950-2100年）在东亚地区进行25 km动力降尺度试验,比较了CSIRO-Mk3.6.0和RegCM4.4预估中国地区的21世纪气候变化。结果表明,两个模式预估未来中国地区气温持续升高,升温幅度具有区域性特征,RegCM4.4预估区域平均升温幅度低于CSIRO-Mk3.6.0,但二者年际波动基本一致。两个模式预估未来降水在中国西部以持续增加为主,东部则表现出较大的不一致性,预估区域平均年降水量变化不大,呈现冬季明显增加,夏季微弱减少的特点。此外,为了解区域气候模式对中国降水预估的不确定性,对本研究和以往RegCM3使用相同分辨率模拟得到的未来降水预估进行了对比,两个区域模式预估中国西部大部分地区未来降水一致性增加,东部存在明显不一致（冬季中、高纬除外）。     

Resolution effects on regional climate model simulations of seasonal precipitation over Europe

We analyze a set of nine regional climate model simulations for the period 1961–2000 performed at 25 and 50 km horizontal grid spacing over a European domain in order to determine the effects of horizontal resolution on the simulation of precipitation. All of the models represent the seasonal mean spatial patterns and amount of precipitation fairly well. Most models exhibit a tendency to over-predict precipitation, resulting in a domain-average total bias for the ensemble mean of about 20% in winter (DJF) and less than 10% in summer (JJA) at both resolutions, although this bias could be artificially enhanced by the lack of a gauge correction in the observations. A majority of the models show increased precipitation at 25 km relative to 50 km over the oceans and inland seas in DJF, JJA, and ANN (annual average), although the response is strongest during JJA. The ratio of convective precipitation to total precipitation decreases over land for most models at 25 km. In addition, there is an increase in interannual variability in many of the models at 25 km grid spacing. Comparison with gridded observations indicates that a majority of models show improved skill in simulating both the spatial pattern and temporal evolution of precipitation at 25 km compared to 50 km during the summer months, but not in winter or on an annual mean basis. Model skill at higher resolution in simulating the spatial and temporal character of seasonal precipitation is found especially for Great Britain. This geographic dependence of the increased skill suggests that observed data of sufficient density are necessary to capture fine-scale climate signals. As climate models increase their horizontal resolution, it is thus a key priority to produce high quality fine scale observations for model evaluation.     

Performance of ENSEMBLES regional climate models over Central Europe using various metrics

We show the evaluation of ENSEMBLES regional climate models (RCMs) driven by reanalysis ERA40 over a region centered at the Czech Republic. Attention is paid especially to the model ALADIN-CLIMATE/CZ, being used as the basis of the new climate change scenarios simulation for the Czech Republic. The validation criteria used here are based on monthly or seasonal mean air temperature and precipitation. We concentrate not only on spatiotemporal mean values but also on temporal standard deviation, inter-annual variability, the mean annual cycle, and the skill of the models to represent the observed spatial patterns of these quantities. Model ALADIN-CLIMATE/CZ performs quite well in comparison to the other RCMs; we find its performance satisfactory for further use for impact studies. However, it is also shown that the results of evaluation of the RCMs’ skill in simulating observed climate strongly depend on the criteria incorporated for the evaluation.     

High-resolution simulations for Vietnam - methodology and evaluation of current climate

To assist the government of Vietnam in its efforts to better understand the impacts of climate change and prioritise its adaptation measures, dynamically downscaled climate change projections were produced across Vietnam. Two Regional Climate Models (RCMs) were used: CSIRO’s variable-resolution Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) and the limited-area model Regional Climate Model system version 4.2 (RegCM4.2). First, global CCAM simulations were completed using bias- and variance-corrected sea surface temperatures as well as sea ice concentrations from six Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models. This approach is different from other downscaling approaches as it does not use any atmospheric fields from the GCMs. The global CCAM simulations were then further downscaled to 10 km using CCAM and to 20 km using RegCM4.2. Evaluations of temperature and precipitation for the current climate (1980-2000) were completed using station data as well as various gridded observational datasets. The RCMs were able to reproduce reasonably well most of the important characteristics of observed spatial patterns and annual cycles of temperature. Average and minimum temperatures were well simulated (biases generally less than 1oC), while maximum temperatures had biases of around 1oC. For precipitation, although the RCMs captured the annual cycle, RegCM4.2 was too dry in Oct.-Nov. (-60% bias), while CCAM was too wet in Dec.- Mar. (130% bias). Both models were too dry in summer and too wet in winter (especially in northern Vietnam). The ability of the ensemble simulations to capture current climate increases confidence in the simulations of future climate.     

Simulating the diurnal cycle of rainfall in global climate models: resolution versus parameterization

The effects of horizontal resolution and the treatment of convection on simulation of the diurnal cycle of precipitation during boreal summer are analyzed in several innovative weather and climate model integrations. The simulations include: season-long integrations of the Non-hydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) with explicit clouds and convection; year-long integrations of the operational Integrated Forecast System (IFS) from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts at three resolutions (125, 39 and 16 km); seasonal simulations of the same model at 10 km resolution; and seasonal simulations of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) low-resolution climate model with and without an embedded two-dimensional cloud-resolving model in each grid box. NICAM with explicit convection simulates best the phase of the diurnal cycle, as well as many regional features such as rainfall triggered by advancing sea breezes or high topography. However, NICAM greatly overestimates mean rainfall and the magnitude of the diurnal cycle. Introduction of an embedded cloud model within the NCAR model significantly improves global statistics of the seasonal mean and diurnal cycle of rainfall, as well as many regional features. However, errors often remain larger than for the other higher-resolution models. Increasing resolution alone has little impact on the timing of daily rainfall in IFS with parameterized convection, yet the amplitude of the diurnal cycle does improve along with the representation of mean rainfall. Variations during the day in atmospheric prognostic fields appear quite similar among models, suggesting that the distinctive treatments of model physics account for the differences in representing the diurnal cycle of precipitation.     

Hydro-climatic effects of future land-cover/land-use change in montane mainland southeast Asia

Regional climate model simulations with RegCM3 were performed to investigate how future land-cover/land-use (LCLU) change in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA) could affect regional climate. Simulation land-surface parameterizations included present day and plausible 2050 land-covers, as well as two extreme deforestation simulations. In the simulations, the original land cover map of RegCM3, based on AVHRR 1992–93 observations, was replaced with one obtained from MODIS 2001 observations; and the model was set to work at two different spatial resolutions using the sub-grid feature of the land surface model: 27.79 km for the atmosphere and 9.26 km for the land surface. During validation, modeled precipitation closely matched observed precipitation over southern China, but underestimated precipitation in the Indochina Peninsula. The plausible 2050 LCLU simulation predicted little change in regional climate. However, an extreme irrigated crop parameterization caused precipitation to increase slightly in the Indochina Peninsula, decrease substantially in southeastern China, and increase significantly in the South China Sea. The extreme short-grass parameterization caused substantial precipitation decreases in MMSEA, but few changes elsewhere. These simulations indicate in order for significant climatological changes to occur, substantially more LCLU conversion is required than the 16 % change we incorporated into the plausible 2050 land-cover scenario.     

温室效应引起的中国区域气候变化的数值模拟Ⅰ:模式对中国气候模拟能力的检验

使用RegCM2区域气候模式单向嵌套澳大利亚CSIRO R21L9全球海-气耦合模式,进行了CO2加倍对中国区域气候变化影响的数值试验研究,分析了控制试验(1×CO2)即模式对中国当代气候的模拟情况.首先给出了全球模式控制试验在中国地区的结果,分析表明它对中国区域的地面气温和降水具有一定的模拟能力,其结果可以用来制作驱动区域气候模式的初始场和侧边界.对RegCM2 5 a时间长度控制试验积分结果的分析与检验表明,区域气候模式由于具有较高的分辨率和较完善的物理过程,它对中国区域地面气温和降水的模拟效果较全球模式有了较大提高,如它模拟的各月气温与实况的相关系数全年12个月的平均由全球模式的0.83提高到0.92,降水由0.48提高到0.65.     

华北地区未来气候变化的高分辨率数值模拟

使用20km高水平分辨率的区域气候模式RegCM3,单向嵌套FvGCM/CCM3全球模式,进行了中国区域气候变化的数值模拟试验,分析华北地区夏半年4-9月的气温、降水和高温、干旱事件的变化。模式积分时间分为两个时段,分别为当代的1961-1990年和在IPCC SRES A2温室气体排放情景下的21世纪末2071-2100年。模式检验结果表明:在大部分月份,区域模式对当代气候的模拟都较全球模式更好。两个模式模拟的未来气温和降水变化,在空间分布型和量级上都有一定不同,如区域模式的升温更高,降水出现大范围减少等。此外,使用日最高气温不低于35℃的日数(D_(T35))和考虑了湿度因素的炎热指数(I_(H))不低于35℃的日数(D_(H135)),分析了区域模式模拟的未来高温事件变化,结果表明:未来华北地区D_(T35)和平原地区D_(H135)均有较大增加。未来华北地区的连续干旱日数(CDD)将增加,依照UNEP(United Nations Environment Programme)干旱指数(A_(U))给出的气候湿润区将有较大幅度减少,而半湿润半干旱区和半干旱区面积将增加。     

Near future (2016-40) summer precipitation changes over China as projected by a regional climate model (RCM) under the RCP8.5 emissions scenario: Comparison between RCM downscaling and the driving GCM

Multi-decadal high resolution simulations over the CORDEX East Asia domain were performed with the regional climate model RegCM3 nested within the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2). Two sets of simulations were conducted at the resolution of 50 km, one for present day (1980–2005) and another for near-future climate (2015–40) under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario. Results show that RegCM3 adds value with respect to FGOALS-g2 in simulating the spatial patterns of summer total and extreme precipitation over China for present day climate. The major deficiency is that RegCM3 underestimates both total and extreme precipitation over the Yangtze River valley. The potential changes in total and extreme precipitation over China in summer under the RCP8.5 scenario were analyzed. Both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2 results show that total and extreme precipitation tend to increase over northeastern China and the Tibetan Plateau, but tend to decrease over southeastern China. In both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2, the change in extreme precipitation is weaker than that for total precipitation. RegCM3 projects much stronger amplitude of total and extreme precipitation changes and provides more regional-scale features than FGOALS-g2. A large uncertainty is found over the Yangtze River valley, where RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2 project opposite signs in terms of precipitation changes. The projected change of vertically integrated water vapor flux convergence generally follows the changes in total and extreme precipitation in both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2, while the amplitude of change is stronger in RegCM3. Results suggest that the spatial pattern of projected precipitation changes may be more affected by the changes in water vapor flux convergence, rather than moisture content itself.     

High resolution regional climate model simulations for Germany: Part II—projected climate changes

The projected climate change signals of a five-member high resolution ensemble, based on two global climate models (GCMs: ECHAM5 and CCCma3) and two regional climate models (RCMs: CLM and WRF) are analysed in this paper (Part II of a two part paper). In Part I the performance of the models for the control period are presented. The RCMs use a two nest procedure over Europe and Germany with a final spatial resolution of 7 km to downscale the GCM simulations for the present (1971–2000) and future A1B scenario (2021–2050) time periods. The ensemble was extended by earlier simulations with the RCM REMO (driven by ECHAM5, two realisations) at a slightly coarser resolution. The climate change signals are evaluated and tested for significance for mean values and the seasonal cycles of temperature and precipitation, as well as for the intensity distribution of precipitation and the numbers of dry days and dry periods. All GCMs project a significant warming over Europe on seasonal and annual scales and the projected warming of the GCMs is retained in both nests of the RCMs, however, with added small variations. The mean warming over Germany of all ensemble members for the fine nest is in the range of 0.8 and 1.3 K with an average of 1.1 K. For mean annual precipitation the climate change signal varies in the range of ?2 to 9 % over Germany within the ensemble. Changes in the number of wet days are projected in the range of ±4 % on the annual scale for the future time period. For the probability distribution of precipitation intensity, a decrease of lower intensities and an increase of moderate and higher intensities is projected by most ensemble members. For the mean values, the results indicate that the projected temperature change signal is caused mainly by the GCM and its initial condition (realisation), with little impact from the RCM. For precipitation, in addition, the RCM affects the climate change signal significantly.     

RegCM4模式对雄安及周边区域气候变化的集合预估

基于CSIRO-Mk3-6-0、EC-EARTH、HadGEM2-ES和MPI-ESM-MR共4个全球气候模式,分别驱动区域气候模式RegCM4,所进行的RCP4.5（典型浓度路径）中等排放情景下25 km较高水平分辨率东亚区域21世纪气候变化模拟结果,针对雄安新区及周边区域,在对当代（1986~2005）气候进行检验的基础上,进行了该区域未来气候变化的多模拟集合预估,并给出了模拟间的差别。结果表明:RegCM4可以较好地模拟出分析区域当代平均气温和降水的分布及年内月循环变化特征;对与气温相关的极端气候事件指数,日最高气温最高值（TXx）和日最低气温最低值（TNn）,以及和降水相关的指数日最大降水量（RX1day）也有较好的模拟能力。雄安及周边区域未来平均气温、TXx和TNn将不断上升,高温热浪事件在增加的同时,低温事件将减少。未来分析区域平均降水量有所增加;而RX1day的增加更明显,且模拟间的一致性较好,不确定性相对较低,暴雨和洪涝事件的频率和强度均将增大。同时由于气温升高导致的潜在蒸发量相对于降水更大的增加,将使得区域水资源相对不足的现象加重。     

Multi-decadal scenario simulation over Korea using a one-way double-nested regional climate model system. Part 1: recent climate simulation (1971–2000)

We present an analysis of a high resolution multi-decadal simulation of recent climate (1971–2000) over the Korean Peninsula with a regional climate model (RegCM3) using a one-way double-nested system. Mean climate state as well as frequency and intensity of extreme climate events are investigated at various temporal and spatial scales, with focus on surface air temperature and precipitation. The mother intermediate resolution model domain encompasses the eastern regions of Asia at 60 km grid spacing while the high resolution nested domain covers the Korean Peninsula at 20 km grid spacing. The simulation spans the 30-year period of January 1971 through December 2000, and initial and lateral boundary conditions for the mother domain are provided from ECHO-G fields based on the IPCC SRES B2 scenario. The model shows a good performance in reproducing the climatological and regional characteristics of surface variables, although some persistent biases are present. Main results are as follows: (1) The RegCM3 successfully simulates the fine-scale structure of the temperature field due to topographic forcing but it shows a systematic cold bias mostly due to an underestimate of maximum temperature. (2) The frequency distribution of simulated daily mean temperature agrees well with the observed seasonal and spatial patterns. In the summer season, however, daily variability is underestimated. (3) The RegCM3 simulation adequately captures the seasonal evolution of precipitation associated to the East Asia monsoon. In particular, the simulated winter precipitation is remarkably good, clearly showing typical precipitation patterns that occur on the northwestern areas of Japan during the winter monsoon. Although summer precipitation is underestimated, area-averaged time series of precipitation over Korea show that the RegCM3 agrees better with observations than ECHO-G both in terms of seasonal evolution and precipitation amounts. (4) Heavy rainfall phenomena exceeding 300 mm/day are simulated only at the high resolution of the double nested domain. (5) The model shows a tendency to overestimate the number of precipitation days and to underestimate the precipitation intensities. (6) A CSEOF analysis reveals that the model captures the strength of the annual cycle and the surface warming trend throughout the simulated period.     

On the role of resolution and topography in the simulation of East Asia precipitation

Summary In this paper, we investigate the role that horizontal resolution plays in the simulation of East Asia precipitation. Two sets of numerical experiments are performed using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM2) nested in one-way mode within the CSIRO global coupled atmosphere-ocean model. In the first set we use the actual RegCM2 topography at the selected model resolutions, which are 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 km. In the second set of the experiments, the same coarse CSIRO model topography is used in all simulations using the different resolutions of the first set. The results demonstrate that the simulation of East Asian precipitation improves as the horizontal resolution is increased. Moreover, it is shown that the simulations using a higher resolution along with the coarse CSIRO topography perform better than the simulations using a coarser model resolution with corresponding model topography. This suggests that over East Asia adequate spatial resolution to resolve the physical and dynamical processes is more important than topography. Lastly, the results indicate that model resolutions of 60 km or higher are needed to accurately simulate the distribution of precipitation over China and East Asia.     

CLIMATE CHANGE DUE TO GREENHOUSE EFFECTS IN CHINA AS SIMULATED BY A REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL-PART I:EVALUATION OF THE MODEL SIMULATIONS*

Impacts of greenhouse effects(2×CO₂) on climate change over China as simulated by a regional climate model have been investigated.The model was based on RegCM2 and is nested in one-way mode within a global coupled atmosphere-ocean model(CSIRO R₂₁L₉ AOGCM).Two multi-year simulations,the control run with normal CO₂ concentration and the sensitivity run with doubled CO₂ concentration are conducted. As Part I of the publications,results of control run of the CSIRO,i.e.its simulation of present climate in China,are analyzed briefly.It shows that the model can basically reproduce the surface air temperature and precipitation pattern over China.Therefore,its outputs can be used to drive the regional model. Analysis of control run of RegCM shows that with a high resolution,the model improves the simulations of surface air temperature and precipitation in China as compared to the CSIRO model, especially for the precipitation.The spatial correlation coefficient between simulated and observed annual temperature increased from 0.83 in the CSIRO to 0.92 in the RegCM and for annual precipitation from 0.48 in the CSIRO to 0.65 in the RegCM.A similar improvement in the RegCM compared to the CSIRO was found in all simulated months.The main improvement for surface temperature is that RegCM can simulate the fine scale structure of temperature caused by topography.RegCM greatly improved the spatial distribution of precipitation by eliminating the virtual precipitation center in central China,which was simulated by many other GCMs.The precipitation simulated by RegCM in North and Northwest China is smaller than that by CSIRO, which makes it closer to the observation.     

QM和QDM方法对中国极端气候的高分辨率气候变化模拟的误差订正对比

采用分位数映射（Quantile Mapping, QM）和delta分位数映射（Quantile Delta Mapping, QDM）两种误差订正方法对区域气候模式RegCM4在中国区域内模拟的逐日气温和降水数据进行订正。模式数据是5种不同全球气候模式驱动下的区域模式气候变化模拟结果。计算订正前后的极端气候指数进行对比分析,包括日最高气温极大值（TXx）、日最低气温极小值（TNn）、连续干旱日数（CDD）和最大日降水量（RX1day）。结果表明,5组模拟结果和其集合平均（ensR）都显示气温指数的模拟效果高于降水指数,其中对TXx模拟最好,对CDD的模拟最差;经过订正后,针对不同模式的两种订正结果都能够有效地减小模式与观测的偏差并提高了空间相关系数,且两种方法的订正效果无明显差别。对RCP4.5情景下未来变化的分析中,QM在一定程度上改变了模式模拟的未来变化幅度和空间分布特征,QDM则能够有效地保留所有极端指数的气候变化信号。从全国平均来看,除CDD外,所有指数未来都呈现增加趋势,且QDM订正结果与订正前模式模拟的变化趋势更为接近。建议在气候变化模拟的误差订正中采用QDM方法。     

Introduction of a sub-grid hydrology in the ISBA land surface model

In atmospheric models, the partitioning of precipitation between infiltration and runoff has a major influence on the terrestrial water budget, and thereby on the simulated weather or climate. River routing models are now available to convert the simulated runoff into river discharge, offering a good opportunity to validate land surface models at the regional scale. However, given the low resolution of global atmospheric models, the quality of the hydrological simulations is much dependent on various processes occurring on unresolved spatial scales. This paper focuses on the parameterization of sub-grid hydrological processes within the ISBA land surface model. Five off-line simulations are performed over the French Rhône river basin, including various sets of parameterizations related to the sub-grid variability of topography, precipitation, maximum infiltration capacity and land surface properties. Parallel experiments are conducted at a high (8 km by 8 km) and low (1° by 1°) resolution, in order to test the robustness of the simulated water budget. Additional simulations are performed using the whole package of sub-grid parameterizations plus an exponential profile with depth of saturated hydraulic conductivity, in order to investigate the interaction between the vertical soil physics and the horizontal heterogeneities. All simulations are validated against a dense network of gauging measurements, after the simulated runoff is converted into discharge using the MODCOU river routing model. Generally speaking, the new version of ISBA, with both the sub-grid hydrology and the modified hydraulic conductivity, shows a better simulation of river discharge, as well as a weaker sensitivity to model resolution. The positive impact of each individual sub-grid parameterization on the simulated discharges is more obvious at the low resolution, whereas the high-resolution simulations are more sensitive to the exponential profile with depth of saturated hydraulic conductivity.     

High-resolution precipitation and temperature downscaling for glacier models

The spatial resolution gap between global or regional climate models and the requirements for local impact studies motivates the need for climate downscaling. For impact studies that involve glacier modelling, the sparsity or complete absence of climate monitoring activities within the regions of interest presents a substantial additional challenge. Downscaling methods for this application must be independent of climate observations and cannot rely on tuning to station data. We present new, computationally-efficient methods for downscaling precipitation and temperature to the high spatial resolutions required to force mountain glacier models. Our precipitation downscaling is based on an existing linear theory for orographic precipitation, which we modify for large study regions by including moist air tracking. Temperature is downscaled using an interpolation scheme that reconstructs the vertical temperature structure to estimate surface temperatures from upper air data. Both methods are able to produce output on km to sub-km spatial resolution, yet do not require tuning to station measurements. By comparing our downscaled precipitation (1 km resolution) and temperature (200 m resolution) fields to station measurements in southern British Columbia, we evaluate their performance regionally and through the annual cycle. Precipitation is improved by as much as 30% (median relative error) over the input reanalysis data and temperature is reconstructed with a mean bias of 0.5°C at locations with high vertical relief. Both methods perform best in mountainous terrain, where glaciers tend to be concentrated.     

Assessing future climate changes and extreme indicators in east and south Asia using the RegCM4 regional climate model

This paper assesses future climate changes over East and South Asia using a regional climate model (RegCM4) with a 50?km spatial resolution. To evaluate the model performance, RegCM4 is driven with ??perfect boundary forcing?? from the reanalysis data during 1970?C1999 to simulate the present day climate. The model performs well in reproducing not only the mean climate and seasonality but also most of the chosen indicators of climate extremes. Future climate changes are evaluated based on two experiments driven with boundary forcing from the European-Hamburg general climate model (ECHAM5), one for the present (1970?C1999) and one for the SRES A1B future scenario (2070?C2099). The model predicts an annual temperature increase of about 3°?C5° (smaller over the ocean and larger over the land), and an increase of annual precipitation over most of China north of 30°N and a decrease or little change in the rest of China, India and Indochina. For temperature-related extreme indicators in the future, the model predicts a generally longer growing season, more hot days in summer, and less frost days in winter. For precipitation-related extremes, the number of days with more than 10?mm of rainfall is predicted to increase north of 30°N and decrease in the south, and the maximum five-day rainfall amount and daily intensity will increase across the whole model domain. In addition, the maximum number of consecutive dry days is predicted to increase over most of the model domain, south of 40°N. Most of the Yangtze River Basin in China stands out as ??hotspots?? of extreme precipitation changes, with the strongest increases of daily rain intensity, maximum five-day rain amount, and the number of consecutive dry days, suggesting increased risks of both floods and droughts.     

Performance of the WRF model to simulate the seasonal and interannual variability of hydrometeorological variables in East Africa: a case study for the Tana River basin in Kenya

This study investigates the ability of the regional climate model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) in simulating the seasonal and interannual variability of hydrometeorological variables in the Tana River basin (TRB) in Kenya, East Africa. The impact of two different land use classifications, i.e., the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) at two horizontal resolutions (50 and 25 km) is investigated. Simulated precipitation and temperature for the period 2011–2014 are compared with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), Climate Research Unit (CRU), and station data. The ability of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Climate Research Unit (CRU) data in reproducing in situ observation in the TRB is analyzed. All considered WRF simulations capture well the annual as well as the interannual and spatial distribution of precipitation in the TRB according to station data and the TRMM estimates. Our results demonstrate that the increase of horizontal resolution from 50 to 25 km, together with the use of the MODIS land use classification, significantly improves the precipitation results. In the case of temperature, spatial patterns and seasonal cycle are well reproduced, although there is a systematic cold bias with respect to both station and CRU data. Our results contribute to the identification of suitable and regionally adapted regional climate models (RCMs) for East Africa.

     

Assessment of RegCM4 simulated inter-annual variability and daily-scale statistics of temperature and precipitation over Mexico

The skill of a regional climate model (RegCM4) in capturing the mean patterns, interannual variability and extreme statistics of daily-scale temperature and precipitation events over Mexico is assessed through a comparison of observations and a 27-year long simulation driven by reanalyses of observations covering the Central America CORDEX domain. The analysis also includes the simulation of tropical cyclones. It is found that RegCM4 reproduces adequately the mean spatial patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature, along with the associated interannual variability characteristics. The main model bias is an overestimation of precipitation in mountainous regions. The 5 and 95 percentiles of daily temperature, as well as the maximum dry spell length are realistically simulated. The simulated distribution of precipitation events as well as the 95 percentile of precipitation shows a wet bias in topographically complex regions. Based on a simple detection method, the model produces realistic tropical cyclone distributions even at its relatively coarse resolution (dx = 50 km), although the number of cyclone days is underestimated over the Pacific and somewhat overestimated over the Atlantic and Caribbean basins. Overall, it is assessed that the performance of RegCM4 over Mexico is of sufficient quality to study not only mean precipitation and temperature patterns, but also higher order climate statistics.