Impact of land cover characterization on regional climate modeling over West Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 637-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla ◽  
Jeremy S. Pal ◽  
Guiling L. Wang ◽  
Peter J. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling

Generating long-term high-resolution land-use change datasets for regional climate modeling in CORDEX domains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hoffmann ◽  
Diana Rechid ◽  
Vanessa Reinhart ◽  
Christina Asmus ◽  
Edouard L. Davin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Modeling Studies

<p>Land-use and land cover (LULC) are continuously changing due to environmental changes and anthropogenic activities. Many observational and modeling studies show that LULC changes are important drivers altering land surface feedbacks and land-atmosphere exchange processes that have substantial impact on climate on the regional and local scale. Yet, most long-term regional climate modeling studies do not account for these changes. Therefore, within the WCRP CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study LUCAS (Land Use Change Across Scales) a new workflow was developed to generate high-resolution annual land cover change time series based on past reconstructions and future projections. First, the high-resolution global land cover dataset ESA-CCI LC (~300 m resolution) is aggregated and converted to a 0.1° resolution, fractional plant functional type (PFT) dataset. Second, the land use change information from the land-use harmonized dataset (LUH2), provided at 0.25° resolution as input for CMIP6 experiments, is translated into PFT changes employing a newly developed land use translator (LUT). The new LUT was first applied to the EURO-CORDEX domain. The resulting LULC maps for past and future - the LUCAS LUC dataset - can be applied as land use forcing to the next generation RCM simulations for downscaling CMIP6 by the EURO-CORDEX community and in the framework of FPS LUCAS. The dataset includes land cover and land management practices changes important for the regional and local scale such as urbanization and irrigation. The LUCAS LUC workflow is applied to further CORDEX domains, such as Australasia and North America. The resulting past and future land cover changes will be presented, and challenges regarding the application of the new workflow to different regions will be addressed. In addition, issues related to the implementation of the dataset into different RCMs will be discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Urban Climates and Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valéry Masson ◽  
Aude Lemonsu ◽  
Julia Hidalgo ◽  
James Voogt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Urban Climatology ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Global Agenda

Cities are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather episodes, which are expected to increase with climate change. Cities also influence their own local climate, for example, through the relative warming known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This review discusses urban climate features (even in complex terrain) and processes. We then present state-of-the-art methodologies on the generalization of a common urban neighborhood classification for UHI studies, as well as recent developments in observation systems and crowdsourcing approaches. We discuss new modeling paradigms pertinent to climate impact studies, with a focus on building energetics and urban vegetation. In combination with regional climate modeling, new methods benefit the variety of climate scenarios and models to provide pertinent information at urban scale. Finally, this article presents how recent research in urban climatology contributes to the global agenda on cities and climate change.

The influence of convection-permitting regional climate modeling on future projections of extreme precipitation: dependency on topography and timescale

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 5303-5324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Vanden Broucke ◽  
Hendrik Wouters ◽  
Matthias Demuzere ◽  
Nicole P. M. van Lipzig
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
Future Projections

scholarly journals Introducing an Irrigation Scheme to a Regional Climate Model: A Case Study over West Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (15) ◽  
pp. 5708-5723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc P. Marcella ◽  
Elfatih A. B. Eltahir
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Vegetation Model ◽  
Irrigation Scheme ◽  
Dynamic Vegetation Model ◽  
Niger River

Abstract This article presents a new irrigation scheme and biome to the dynamic vegetation model, Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), coupled to version 3 of the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3-IBIS). The new land cover allows for only the plant functional type (crop) to exist in an irrigated grid cell. Irrigation water (i.e., negative runoff) is applied until the soil root zone reaches relative field capacity. The new scheme allows for irrigation scheduling (i.e., when to apply water) and for the user to determine the crop to be grown. Initial simulations show a large sensitivity of the scheme to soil texture types, how the water is applied, and the climatic conditions over the region. Application of the new scheme is tested over West Africa, specifically Mali and Niger, to simulate the potential irrigation of the Niger River. A realistic representation of irrigation of the Niger River is performed by constraining the land irrigated by the annual flow of the Niger River and the amount of arable land in the region as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). A 30-yr simulation including irrigated cropland is compared to a 30-yr simulation that is identical but with no irrigation of the Niger. Results indicate a significant greening of the irrigated land as evapotranspiration over the crop fields largely increases—mostly via increases in transpiration from plant growth. The increase in the evapotranspiration, or latent heat flux (by 65–150 W m−2), causes a significant decrease in the sensible heat flux while surface temperatures cool on average by nearly 5°C. This cooling is felt downwind, where average daily temperatures outside the irrigation are reduced by 0.5°–1.0°C. Likewise, large increases in 2-m specific humidity are experienced across the irrigated cropland (on the order of 5 g kg−1) but also extend farther north and east, reflecting the prevailing surface southwesterlies. Changes (decreases) in rainfall are found only over the irrigated lands of west Mali. The decrease in rainfall can be explained by the large surface cooling and collapse of the boundary layer (by approximately 500 m). Both lead to a reduction in the triggering of convection as the convective inhibition, or negative buoyant energy, is never breached. Nevertheless, the new scheme and land cover allows for a novel line of research that can accurately reflect the effects of irrigation on climate and the surrounding environment using a dynamic vegetation model coupled to a regional climate model.

The state of the art and fundamental aspects of regional climate modeling in South America

2018 ◽  
Vol 1436 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tércio Ambrizzi ◽  
Michelle Simões Reboita ◽  
Rosmeri Porfírio da Rocha ◽  
Marta Llopart
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
The State
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