Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Karakoram’s downscaling of precipitation and extremes

Project description

Regional climate simulation of the Karakoram anomaly

The Karakoram Anomaly refers to the unusual phenomenon where glaciers in the Karakoram mountain, part of the greater Himalayas, are either stable or growing. This contrasts with most glaciers globally which have retreated due to climate change. Understanding the Karakoram Anomaly is important because it offers insights into how local climatic conditions can influence glacial behaviour. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the KARRONTE project aims to understand the phenomenon by providing more insight into local weather conditions and their dynamics with global climate patterns. The research team will create a high-resolution regional climate simulation for the Karakoram region over the past 15 years and analyse precipitation variability and extreme events, enhancing our understanding of global high-mountain climates.

Objective

KARRONTE is motivated by the controversial “Karakoram Anomaly” in High-Mountain Asia, which denotes the relative mass balance stability of glaciers in the Karakoram region under global warming, compared to the massive ice loss observed in other high-mountain glaciers. Recently, some possible explanations have been proposed in the literature, but all of them are based on coarse-resolution data sets, due to the scarcity of weather station data. The need for a new regional climate simulation for the Karakoram using convection-permitting scales is clear. These scales will allow the climate model to resolve convection directly in a physically consistent way, without the need for a cumulus parameterization scheme.

Thus, the main objectives of KARRONTE are the following: (1) To create a novel regional climate simulation for the Karakoram, covering the last 15 years and adopting a spatial resolution of 3 km in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. (2) To evaluate the temporal and spatial variability of precipitation and extreme events. (3) To investigate the relationship between recent trends of precipitation, local atmospheric dynamics and teleconnection patterns worldwide. These objectives will allow us to understand the drivers of extreme precipitation and the atmospheric dynamics in the Karakoram region, and to disentangle complex, local atmospheric effects related to the Karakoram Anomaly that could have been missed in previous analyses.

KARRONTE will contribute to the evaluation of extreme event impacts and climate adaptation strategies. Its outcomes will also provide tools and fundamental knowledge to understand the effects of climate change on other high-mountain environments, such as those in Europe and other continents. Regarding my research career, KARRONTE will foster my independence and my ability to attract funding, and it will enable me to develop the competencies and skills valuable to become a young research group leader in the near future.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

ASOCIACION BC3 BASQUE CENTRE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE - KLIMA ALDAKETA IKERGAI
Net EU contribution
€ 165 312,96
Address
EDIFICIO 1 PLANTA 1 PARQUE CIENTIFICO DE UPV/EHU BARRIO SARRIENA
48940 Leioa
Spain
Region
Noreste País Vasco Bizkaia
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
No data