Climate classifications from regional and global climate models: Performances for present climate estimates and expected changes in the future at high spatial resolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 228 ◽  
pp. 107-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Tapiador ◽  
Raúl Moreno ◽  
Andrés Navarro ◽  
José Luis Sánchez ◽  
Eduardo García-Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Present Climate ◽  
The Future

scholarly journals Impact of climate model resolution on soil moisture projections in central-western Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eveline C. van der Linden ◽  
Reindert J. Haarsma ◽  
Gerard van der Schrier
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Soil Drying ◽  
Model Resolution

Abstract. Global climate models project widespread decreases in soil moisture over large parts of Europe. This paper investigates the impact of model resolution on the magnitude and seasonality of future soil drying in central-western Europe. We use the general circulation model EC-Earth to study two 30-year periods representative of the start and end of the 21st century under low-to-moderate greenhouse gas forcing (RCP4.5). In our study area, central-western Europe, at high spatial resolution (∼25 km) soil drying is more severe and starts earlier in the season than at standard resolution (∼112 km). Here, changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation and local soil moisture feedbacks lead to enhanced evapotranspiration in spring and reduced precipitation in summer. A more realistic position of the storm track at high model resolution leads to reduced biases in precipitation and temperature in the present-day climatology, which act to amplify future changes in evapotranspiration in spring. Furthermore, in the high-resolution model a stronger anticyclonic anomaly over the British Isles extends over central-western Europe and supports soil drying. The resulting drier future land induces stronger soil moisture feedbacks that amplify drying conditions in summer. In addition, soil-moisture-limited evapotranspiration in summer promotes sensible heating of the boundary layer, which leads to a lower relative humidity with less cloudy conditions, an increase in dry summer days, and more incoming solar radiation. As a result a series of consecutive hot and dry summers appears in the future high-resolution climate. The enhanced drying at high spatial resolution suggests that future projections of central-western European soil drying by CMIP5 models have been potentially underestimated. Whether these results are robust has to be tested with other global climate models with similar high spatial resolutions.

scholarly journals An evaluation of the importance of spatial resolution in a global climate and hydrological model based on the Rhine and Mississippi basin

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imme Benedict ◽  
Chiel C. van Heerwaarden ◽  
Albrecht H. Weerts ◽  
Wilco Hazeleger
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Convective Processes ◽  
Parameter Values

Abstract. The hydrological cycle of river basins can be simulated by combining global climate models (GCMs) and global hydrological models (GHMs). The spatial resolution of these models is restricted by computational resources and therefore limits the processes and level of detail that can be resolved. To further improve simulations of precipitation and river-runoff on a global scale, we assess and compare the benefits of an increased resolution for a GCM and a GHM. We focus on the Rhine and Mississippi basin. Increasing the resolution of a GCM (1.125° to 0.25°) results in more realistic large-scale circulation patterns over the Rhine and an improved precipitation budget. These improvements with increased resolution are not found for the Mississippi basin, most likely because precipitation is strongly dependent on the representation of still unresolved convective processes. Increasing the resolution of vegetation and orography in the high resolution GHM (from 0.5° to 0.05°) shows no significant differences in discharge for both basins, because the hydrological processes depend highly on other parameter values that are not readily available at high resolution. Therefore, increasing the resolution of the GCM provides the most straightforward route to better results. This route works best for basins driven by large-scale precipitation, such as the Rhine basin. For basins driven by convective processes, such as the Mississippi basin, improvements are expected with even higher resolution convection permitting models.

scholarly journals Revolutionizing Climate Modeling with Project Athena: A Multi-Institutional, International Collaboration

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Kinter ◽  
B. Cash ◽  
D. Achuthavarier ◽  
J. Adams ◽  
E. Altshuler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Mean Climate ◽  
Project Athena

The importance of using dedicated high-end computing resources to enable high spatial resolution in global climate models and advance knowledge of the climate system has been evaluated in an international collaboration called Project Athena. Inspired by the World Modeling Summit of 2008 and made possible by the availability of dedicated high-end computing resources provided by the National Science Foundation from October 2009 through March 2010, Project Athena demonstrated the sensitivity of climate simulations to spatial resolution and to the representation of subgrid-scale processes with horizontal resolutions up to 10 times higher than contemporary climate models. While many aspects of the mean climate were found to be reassuringly similar, beyond a suggested minimum resolution, the magnitudes and structure of regional effects can differ substantially. Project Athena served as a pilot project to demonstrate that an effective international collaboration can be formed to efficiently exploit dedicated supercomputing resources. The outcomes to date suggest that, in addition to substantial and dedicated computing resources, future climate modeling and prediction require a substantial research effort to efficiently explore the fidelity of climate models when explicitly resolving important atmospheric and oceanic processes.

scholarly journals Downscale of future climate change scenarios applied to Recife-PE

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Rafaela Lisboa Costa ◽  
Heliofábio Barros Gomes ◽  
Fabrício Daniel Dos Santos Silva ◽  
Rodrigo Lins Da Rocha Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
The Future ◽  
Maximum Temperatures

The objective of this work was to analyze and compare results from two generations of global climate models (GCMs) simulations for the city of Recife-PE: CMIP3 and CMIP5. Differences and similarities in historical and future climate simulations are presented for four GCMs using CMIP3 scenarios A1B and A2 and for seven CMIP5 scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The scale reduction technique applied to GCMs scenarios is statistical downscaling, employing the same set of large-scale atmospheric variables as predictors for both sets of scenarios, differing only in the type of reanalysis data used to characterize surface variables precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures. For CMIP3 scenarios the simulated historical climate is 1961-1990 and CMIP5 is 1979-2000, and the validation period is ten years, 1991-2000 for CMIP3 and 2001-2010 for CMIP5. However, for both the future period analyzed is 2021-2050 and 2051-2080. Validation metrics indicated superior results from the historical simulations of CMIP5 over those of CMIP3 for precipitation and minimum and similar temperatures for maximum temperatures. For the future, both CMIP3 and CMIP5 scenarios indicate reduced precipitation and increased temperatures. The potencial evapotranspiration was calculated, projected to increase in scenarios A1B and A2 of CMIP3 and with behavior similar to that observed historically in scenarios RCP4.5 and 8.5.

scholarly journals Spatio-temporal trends of hydrological components: the case of the Tafna basin (northwestern Algeria)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amina Mami ◽  
Djilali Yebdri ◽  
Sabine Sauvage ◽  
Mélanie Raimonet ◽  
José Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Regional Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
The Future

Abstract Climate change is expected to increase in the future in the Mediterranean region, including Algeria. The Tafna basin, vulnerable to drought, is one of the most important catchments ensuring water self-sufficiency in northwestern Algeria. The objective of this study is to estimate the evolution of hydrological components of the Tafna basin, throughout 2020–2099, comparing to the period 1981–2000. The SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), calibrated and validated on the Tafna basin with good Nash at the outlet 0.82, is applied to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of hydrological components, over the basin throughout 2020–2099. The application is produced using a precipitation and temperature minimum/maximum of an ensemble of climate model outputs obtained from a combination of eight global climate models and two regional climate models of Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment project. The results of this study show that the decrease of precipitation in January, on average −25%, ranged between −5% and −44% in the future. This diminution affects all of the water components and fluxes of a watershed, namely, in descending order of impact: the river discharge causing a decrease −36%, the soil water available −31%, the evapotranspiration −30%, and the lateral flow −29%.

Simulation and Projection of Summer Convective Afternoon Rainfall Activities over Southeast Asia in CMIP6 Models

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Wan-Ru Huang ◽  
Ya-Hui Chang ◽  
Liping Deng ◽  
Pin-Yi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Sea Breeze ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Historical Simulation ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
The Future ◽  
Local Weather

AbstractConvective afternoon rainfall (CAR) events, which tend to generate a local rainfall typically in the afternoon, are among the most frequently observed local weather patterns over Southeast Asia during summer. Using satellite precipitation estimations as an observational base for model evaluation, this study examines the applicability of ten global climate models provided by the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) in simulating the CAR activities over Southeast Asia. Analyses also focus on exploring the characteristics and maintenance mechanisms of related projections of CAR activities in the future. Our analyses of the historical simulation indicate that EC-Earth3 and EC-Earth3-Veg are the two best models for simulating CAR activities (including amount, frequency, and intensity) over Southeast Asia. Analyses also demonstrate that EC-Earth3 and EC-Earth3-Veg outperform their earlier version (i.e., EC-Earth) in CMIP5 owing to the increase in its spatial resolution in CMIP6. For future projections, our examinations of the differences in CAR activities between the future (2071–2100, under the ssp858 run) and the present (1985–2014, under historical run) indicate that CAR events will become fewer but more intense over most land areas of Southeast Asia. Possible causes of the projected increase (decrease) in CAR intensity (frequency) are attributed to the projected increase (decrease) in the local atmospheric humidity (sea breeze convergence and daytime thermal instability). These findings provide insight into how the local weather/climate over Southeast Asia is likely to change under global warming.

On the relationship between Indian Ocean Dipole, Indian summer monsoon and ENSO

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalisa Cherchi ◽  
Pascal Terray ◽  
Satyaban Bishoyi Ratna ◽  
Virna Meccia ◽  
Sooraj K.P.
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Indian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Indian Ocean Dipole ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Indian Ocean

<p>The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is one of the dominant modes of variability of the tropical Indian Ocean and it has been suggested to have a crucial role in the teleconnection between the Indian summer monsoon and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The main ideas at the base of the influence of the IOD on the ENSO-monsoon teleconnection include the possibility that it may strengthen summer rainfall over India, as well as the opposite, and also that it may produce a remote forcing on ENSO itself. The Indian Ocean has been experiencing a warming, larger than any other basins, since the 1950s. During these decades, the summer monsoon rainfall over India decreased and the frequency of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events increased. In the future the IOD is projected to further increase in frequency and amplitude with mean conditions mimicking the characteristics of its positive phase. Still, state of the art global climate models have large biases in representing IOD and monsoon mean state and variability, with potential consequences for properties and related teleconnections projected in the future. This works collects a review study of the influence of the IOD on the ISM and its relationship with ENSO, as well as new results on IOD projections comparing CMIP5 and CMIP6 models.</p>

Projection of future daily precipitation series and extreme events by using a multi-site statistical downscaling model over the great Montréal area, Québec, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. I. Jeong ◽  
A. St-Hilaire ◽  
T. B. M. J. Ouarda ◽  
P. Gachon
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Downscaling ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Precipitation Series ◽  
Statistical Downscaling Model ◽  
The Future ◽  
Consistent Increase ◽  
Ipcc Sres

This study suggested strategies to project future precipitation series based on a multi-site hybrid SDM (statistical downscaling model), which can downscale precipitation series at multiple observation sites simultaneously by combining the multivariate multiple linear regression (MMLR) model and the stochastic randomization procedure. The hybrid SDM and future projection methodologies applied to 10 observation sites located in the great area of Montréal, Québec, Canada. Six future independent precipitation series were projected from six sets of future atmospheric predictors using three AOGCMs (Atmosphere-Ocean Global Climate Models, i.e. CGCM2, CGCM3, HadCM3) and three IPCC SRES emission scenarios (B2, A1B and A2). Downscaled climate change signals on wet/dry sequences and extreme indices of precipitation time series were evaluated over the future period from 2060 to 2099 with respect to the historical period from 1961 to 2000. The future scenarios of all three AOGCMs showed a consistent increase of 7.9–44.6% in winter while only those of HadCM3 and CGCM3 showed a decrease of 2.3–23.0% in summer compared to their historical values. Precipitation series of CGCM2 A2 and CGCM3 A2 scenarios yielded the largest increase in winter, while those of HadCM3 B2 and A2 scenarios yielded the largest decrease in summer for all statistics indices.

scholarly journals Comparative study of conceptual versus distributed hydrologic modelling to evaluate the impact of climate change on future runoff in unregulated catchments

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hashim Isam Jameel Al-Safi ◽  
Hamideh Kazemi ◽  
P. Ranjan Sarukkalige
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Distributed Model ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The application of two distinctively different hydrologic models, (conceptual-HBV) and (distributed-BTOPMC), was compared to simulate the future runoff across three unregulated catchments of the Australian Hydrologic Reference Stations (HRSs), namely Harvey catchment in WA, and Beardy and Goulburn catchments in NSW. These catchments have experienced significant runoff reduction during the last decades due to climate change and human activities. The Budyko-elasticity method was employed to assign the influences of human activities and climate change on runoff variations. After estimating the contribution of climate change in runoff reduction from the past runoff regime, the downscaled future climate signals from a multi-model ensemble of eight global climate models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase-5 (CMIP5) under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios were used to simulate the future daily runoff at the three HRSs for the mid-(2046–2065) and late-(2080–2099) 21st-century. Results show that the conceptual model performs better than the distributed model in capturing the observed streamflow across the three contributing catchments. The performance of the models was relatively compatible in the overall direction of future streamflow change, regardless of the magnitude, and incompatible regarding the change in the direction of high and low flows for both future climate scenarios. Both models predicted a decline in wet and dry season's streamflow across the three catchments.

scholarly journals Land–Sea Thermal Contrast and Intensity of the North American Monsoon under Climate Change Conditions

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 4566-4580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Torres-Alavez ◽  
Tereza Cavazos ◽  
Cuauhtemoc Turrent
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
North American Monsoon ◽  
Thermal Contrast ◽  
The North ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mean

Abstract The hypothesis that global warming during the twenty-first century will increase the land–sea thermal contrast (LSTC) and therefore the intensity of early season precipitation of the North American monsoon (NAM) is examined. To test this hypothesis, future changes (2075–99 minus 1979–2004 means) in LSTC, moisture flux convergence (MFC), vertical velocity, and precipitation in the region are analyzed using six global climate models (GCMs) from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) under the representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) emission scenario. A surface LSTC index shows that the continent becomes warmer than the ocean in May in the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) and ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and in June in the mean ensemble of the GCMs (ens_GCMs), and the magnitude of the positive LSTC is greater in the reanalyses than in the ens_GCMs during the historic period. However, the reanalyses underestimate July–August precipitation in the NAM region, while the ens_GCMs reproduces the peak season surprisingly well but overestimates it the rest of the year. The future ens_GCMs projects a doubling of the magnitude of the positive surface LSTC and an earlier start of the continental summer warming in mid-May. Contrary to the stated hypothesis, however, the mean projection suggests a slight decrease of monsoon coastal precipitation during June–August (JJA), which is attributed to increased midtropospheric subsidence, a reduced midtropospheric LSTC, and reduced MFC in the NAM coastal region. In contrast, the future ens_GCMs produces increased MFC and precipitation over the adjacent mountains during JJA and significantly more rainfall over the entire NAM region during September–October, weakening the monsoon retreat.

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