scholarly journals Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 847-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Tang ◽  
A. Micheels ◽  
J. Eronen ◽  
M. Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Regional Model ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The Late Miocene (11.6–5.3 Ma) is a crucial period in the history of the Asian monsoon. Significant changes in the Asian climate regime have been documented for this period, which saw the formation of the modern Asian monsoon system. However, the spatiotemporal structure of these changes is still ambiguous, and the associated mechanisms are debated. Here, we present a simulation of the average state of the Asian monsoon climate for the Tortonian (11–7 Ma) using the regional climate model CCLM3.2. We employ relatively high spatial resolution (1° × 1°) and adapt the physical boundary conditions such as topography, land-sea distribution and vegetation in the regional model to represent the Late Miocene. As climatological forcing, the output of a Tortonian run with a fully-coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model is used. Our regional Tortonian run shows a stronger-than-present East Asian winter monsoon wind as a result of the enhanced mid-latitude westerly wind of our global forcing and the lowered present-day northern Tibetan Plateau in the regional model. The summer monsoon circulation is generally weakened in our regional Tortonian run compared to today. However, the changes of summer monsoon precipitation exhibit major regional differences. Precipitation decreases in northern China and northern India, but increases in southern China, the western coast and the southern tip of India. This can be attributed to the changes in both the regional topography (e.g. the lower northern Tibetan Plateau) and the global climate conditions (e.g. the higher sea surface temperature). The spread of dry summer conditions over northern China and northern Pakistan in our Tortonian run further implies that the monsoonal climate may not have been fully established in these regions in the Tortonian. Compared with the global model, the high resolution regional model highlights the spatial differences of the Asian monsoon climate in the Tortonian, and better characterizes the convective activity and its response to regional topographical changes. It therefore provides a useful and compared to global models, a complementary tool to improve our understanding of the Asian monsoon evolution in the Late Miocene.

scholarly journals Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 841-886
Author(s):  
H. Tang ◽  
A. Micheels ◽  
J. Eronen ◽  
M. Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Model ◽  
Global Model ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The Late Miocene (11.6–5.3 Ma) is a crucial period for the Asian monsoon evolution. However, the spatiotemporal changes of the Asian monsoon system in the Late Miocene are still ambiguous, and the mechanisms responsible for these changes are debated. Here, we present a simulation of the Asian monsoon climate (0 to 60° N and 50 to 140° E) in the Tortonian (11–7 Ma) using the regional climate model CCLM3.2. We employ relatively high spatial resolution (1° × 1°) and adapt the physical boundary conditions such as topography, land-sea distribution and vegetation in the regional model to represent the Late Miocene. As climatological forcing, the output of a Tortonian run with a fully-coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model is used. Our results show a stronger-than-present E-Asian winter monsoon wind in the Tortonian, as a result of the enhanced mid-latitude westerly wind of our global forcing and the lowered northern Tibetan Plateau in the regional model. The summer monsoon circulation is generally weakened in our regional Tortonian run compared to today. However, the changes of summer monsoon precipitation exhibit major regional differences. The precipitation decreases in N-China and N-India, but increases in S-China, the western coast and the southern tip of India. This can be attributed to the combined effect of both the regional topographical changes and the other forcings related to our global model. The spread of the dry summer conditions over N-China and NW-India further implies that the monsoonal climate may not be fully established over these regions in the Tortonain. Compared with the global model, the high resolution regional model highlights the spatial differences of the Asian monsoon climate in the Tortonian, and better characterizes the convective activity and its response to topographical changes. It therefore provides a useful and compared to global models complementary tool to improve our understanding of the Asian monsoon evolution in the Late Miocene.

scholarly journals Direct radiative effects of dust aerosols emitted from the Tibetan Plateau on the East Asian summer monsoon – a regional climate model simulation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Zaitao Pan
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Dust Aerosols ◽  
Asian Summer

Abstract. While dust aerosols emitted from major Asian sources such as Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts have been shown to have strong effect on Asian monsoon and climate, the role of dust emitted from Tibetan Plateau (TP) itself, where aerosols can directly interact with the TP heat pump because of their physical proximity both in location and elevation, has not been examined. This study uses the dust coupled RegCM4.1 regional climate model to simulate the spatiotemporal distribution of dust aerosols originating in the TP and their radiative effects on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during both heavy and light dust years. Two 20-year simulations with and without the dust emission from TP showed that direct radiative cooling in the mid-troposphere induced by the TP locally produced dust aerosols resulted in an overall anticyclonic circulation anomaly in the low-troposphere centered over the TP region. The northeasterly anomaly in the EASM region reduces its strength considerably. The simulations found a significant negative correlation between the TP column dust load produced by local emissions and the corresponding anomaly in the EASM index (R=−0.41). The locally generated TP dust can cause surface cooling far downstream in eastern Mongolia and northeastern China through stationery Rossby wave propagation. Although contribution to the total Asian dust source from within TP (mainly Qaidam Basin) is relatively small, its impacts on Asian monsoon and climate seems disproportionately large, likely owning to its higher elevation within TP itself.

scholarly journals Direct radiative effects of dust aerosols emitted from the Tibetan Plateau on the East Asian summer monsoon – a regional climate model simulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 13731-13745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Zaitao Pan
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Dust Aerosols ◽  
Asian Summer

Abstract. While dust aerosols emitted from major Asian sources such as Taklimakan and Gobi deserts have been shown to have strong effect on Asian monsoon and climate, the role of dust emitted from Tibetan Plateau (TP) itself, where aerosols can directly interact with the TP heat pump because of their physical proximity both in location and elevation, has not been examined. This study uses the dust-coupled RegCM4.1 regional climate model (RCM) to simulate the spatiotemporal distribution of dust aerosols originating within the TP and their radiative effects on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during both heavy and light dust years. Two 20-year simulations with and without the dust emission from TP showed that direct radiative cooling in the mid-troposphere induced by the TP locally produced dust aerosols resulted in an overall anticyclonic circulation anomaly in the low troposphere centered over the TP region. The northeasterly anomaly in the EASM region reduces its strength considerably. The simulations found a significant negative correlation between the TP column dust load produced by local emissions and the corresponding anomaly in the EASM index (r = −0.46). The locally generated TP dust can cause surface cooling far downstream in Bohai Gulf and the China–North Korea border area through stationary Rossby wave propagation. Although dust from within TP (mainly Qaidam Basin) is a relatively small portion of total Asian aerosols, its impacts on Asian monsoon and climate seems disproportionately large, likely owning to its higher elevation within TP itself.

Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau climate simulation using the regional climate model RegCM3

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Wang ◽  
M Yang ◽  
G Wan ◽  
X Chen ◽  
G Pang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Simulation

scholarly journals Assessing the Effects of Spatial Resolution on Regional Climate Model Simulated Summer Temperature and Precipitation in China: A Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin-Min Zeng ◽  
Ming Wang ◽  
Yujian Zhang ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
Yiqun Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
South China ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Vertical Resolution ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Entire Area

The regional climate model, RegCM3, is used to simulate the 2004 summer surface air temperature (SAT) and precipitation at different horizontal (i.e., 30, 60, and 90 km) and vertical resolutions (i.e., 14, 18, and 23 layers). Results showed that increasing resolution evidently changes simulated SATs with regional characteristics. For example, simulated SATs are apparently better produced when horizontal resolution increases from 60 to 30 km under the 23 layers. Meanwhile, the SATs over the entire area are more sensitive to vertical resolution than horizontal resolution. The subareas present higher sensitivities than the total area, with larger horizontal resolution effects than those of vertical resolution. For precipitation, increasing resolution shows higher impact compared to SAT, with higher sensitivity induced by vertical resolution than by horizontal resolution, especially in rainy South China. The best SAT/precipitation can be produced only when the horizontal and vertical resolutions are reasonably configured. This indicates that different resolutions lead to different atmospheric thermodynamic states. Because of the dry climate and low soil heat capacity in Northern China, resolution changes easily modify surface energy fluxes, hence the SAT; due to the rainy and humid climate in South China, resolution changes likely strongly influence grid-scale structure of clouds and therefore precipitation.

scholarly journals Future Climate in the Tibetan Plateau from a Statistical Regional Climate Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 10125-10138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuhua Zhu ◽  
Weiqiang Wang ◽  
Klaus Fraedrich
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Temperature Trends ◽  
Precipitation Increase

Abstract The authors use a statistical regional climate model [Statistical Regional Model (STAR)] to project the Tibetan Plateau (TP) climate for the period 2015–50. Reanalysis datasets covering 1958–2001 are used as a substitute of observations and resampled by STAR to optimally fit prescribed linear temperature trends derived from the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) simulations for phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) under the representative concentration pathway 2.6 (RCP2.6) and RCP4.5 scenarios. To assess the related uncertainty, temperature trends from carefully selected best/worst ensemble members are considered. In addition, an extra projection is forced by observed temperature trends in 1958–2001. The following results are obtained: (i) Spatial average temperature will increase by 0.6°–0.9°C; the increase exceeds 1°C in all months except in boreal summer, thus indicating a reduced annual cycle; and daily minimum temperature rises faster than daily maximum temperature, resulting in a narrowing of the diurnal range of near-surface temperature. (ii) Precipitation increase mainly occurs in early summer and autumn possibly because of an earlier onset and later withdrawal of the Asian summer monsoon. (iii) Both frost and ice days decrease by 1–2 days in spring, early summer, and autumn, and the decrease of frost days on the annual course is inversely related to the precipitation increase. (iv) Degree-days increase all over the TP with peak amplitude in the Qaidam Basin and the southern TP periphery, which will result in distinct melting of the local seasonal frozen ground, and the annual temperature range will decrease with stronger amplitude in south TP.

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