Regionalization

Objective

To develop and apply higher resolution limited area climate
models embedded in coarser global models, in order to provide
increased accuracy of regional and local simulations of climate
and climate change.


The work will concentrate on the development and testing of
nested high resolution limited area models (LAMs) and the testing
of their skill in reproducing the present climate.

A series of LAM simulations with "perfect" boundary conditions
(from analyses of observed data) will be carried out. The
simulations will be validated against observed data using a
number of standard and non--standard techniques. Experiments
will be carried out with different parametrization schemes for
the modelled physics, different treatments of the lateral
boundaries, and different spatial resolutions. These experiments
will give upper bounds for the accuracy to be expected for
applications of the models in a climate change context.

Two of the LAMs will be used to used to "regionalize" climate
simulations from atmospheric models (AGCM's at NCAR and at MPIM).
The lateral boundaries will be taken from outputs of these AGCM's
covering 10--20 years. The models are forced by prescribed
(analysed) sea--surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea--ice fields.
The simulations(both from the LAMs and the AGCMs) will be
validated against observations and analyses for the period in
question, and with climatology.

A special study will investigate whether ocean SST
(in casu the Atlantic SST's off the Portuguese coast)
can be simulated realistically using an ocean limited area model
(OLAM).

Very high resolution climate simulations will be investigated by
two specific studies. The first will use a statistical dynamical
methodology to give very high resolution of the climate of the
(greater) Alpine area. The methodology combines the use of a
mesoscale dynamical model with a statistical classification
scheme for the large scale flow regime. The second high
resolution study is concentrating on the Iberian peninsula, and
will investigate the further nesting into a (already nested) LAM
of a higher resolution model.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › atmospheric sciences › climatology › climatic changes

Programme(s)

• FP3-ENV 1C - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the environment, 1990-1994

Topic(s)

• 0101 - Natural climate change

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN E.V.

Address

Bundesstra¯e 55
20146 Hamburg
Germany

Participants (6)

AGENZIA REGIONALE PREVENZIONE E AMBIENTE DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA

Italy

Address

Viale Silvani 6
40122 Bologna

DANISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE

Denmark

Address

100,lyngbyvej 100
2100 Koepenhagen

GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTRE

Germany

Address

Muenchener Strasse 20, Oberpfaffernhofen
82234 Wessling

UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID

Spain

Address

2,avenida De Seneca 2, Ciudad Universitaria
28040 Madrid

Universidad de Alcalá de Henares

Spain

Address

Km 33,6,carretera De Barcelona Km 33,6
28801 Camp Madrid

Università degli Studi dell'Aquila

Italy

Address

Via Vetoio 10
67010 Coppito L'aquila