The impact of vertical resolution upon GCM simulations of marine stratocumulus

 The impact of increased vertical resolution in the Hadley Centre Climate Model upon the simulation of stratocumulus is investigated in experiments using single column (SCM) and general circulation (GCM) model configurations. A threefold enhancement of vertical resolution in the boundary layer leads to improvements in the vertical structure of the cloud-topped boundary layer produced by the SCM and GCM in both well-mixed and decoupled situations. However, single and decoupled mixed layers in the marine stratocumulus subsidence regions are still too shallow and, despite increasing, layer cloud amounts remain generally too low. Moreover, closer examination of GCM data and SCM timeseries reveals an underlying sensitivity to vertical resolution in model interactions between boundary layer and convection processes which appears unrealistic. Stratocumulus simulation is thus unlikely to improve significantly as a result of enhanced resolution alone and further work is being undertaken to improve the Hadley Centre model’s boundary layer scheme and, in particular, its interaction with the convection scheme. Nevertheless, this study shows that the full benefit of an improved boundary layer scheme will not be realized if the boundary layer structure is constrained by the rather poor lower troposphere resolution of the standard 19-level climate model. Future Hadley Centre model versions will seek to combine the added flexibility of a better resolved structure with improvements to the subgrid boundary layer parametrizations. Received: 14 April 1998 / Accepted: 5 November 1998     

Evaluation of NASA GISS Post-CMIP5 Single Column Model Simulated Clouds and Precipitation Using ARM Southern Great Plains Observations

The planetary boundary layer turbulence and moist convection parameterizations have been modified recently in the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies(GISS) Model E2 atmospheric general circulation model(GCM; post-CMIP5,hereafter P5). In this study, single column model(SCM P5) simulated cloud fractions(CFs), cloud liquid water paths(LWPs)and precipitation were compared with Atmospheric Radiation Measurement(ARM) Southern Great Plains(SGP) groundbased observations made during the period 2002–08. CMIP5 SCM simulations and GCM outputs over the ARM SGP region were also used in the comparison to identify whether the causes of cloud and precipitation biases resulted from either the physical parameterization or the dynamic scheme. The comparison showed that the CMIP5 SCM has difficulties in simulating the vertical structure and seasonal variation of low-level clouds. The new scheme implemented in the turbulence parameterization led to significantly improved cloud simulations in P5. It was found that the SCM is sensitive to the relaxation time scale. When the relaxation time increased from 3 to 24 h, SCM P5-simulated CFs and LWPs showed a moderate increase(10%–20%) but precipitation increased significantly(56%), which agreed better with observations despite the less accurate atmospheric state. Annual averages among the GCM and SCM simulations were almost the same, but their respective seasonal variations were out of phase. This suggests that the same physical cloud parameterization can generate similar statistical results over a long time period, but different dynamics drive the differences in seasonal variations. This study can potentially provide guidance for the further development of the GISS model.     

Sensitivity of the Simulated Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation to Cumulus Parameterizations

The sensitivity of the simulated tropical intraseasonal oscillation or MJO (Madden and Julian oscilla tion)to different cumulus parameterizations is studied by using an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM)-SAMIL(Spectral Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG).Results show that performance of the model in simulating the MJO alters widely when using two different cumulus parameterization schemes-the moist convective adjustment scheme(MCA)and the Zhang-McFarlane(ZM)scheme.MJO simulated by the MCA scheme was found to be more realistic than that simulated by the ZM scheme.MJO produced by the ZM scheme is too weak and shows little propagation characteristics.Weak moisture convergence at low levels simulated by the ZM scheme is not enough to maintain the structure and the eastward propagation of the oscillation.These two cumulus schemes produced different vertical structures of the heating profile.The heating profile produced by the ZM scheme is nearly uniform with height and the heating is too weak compared to that produced by the MCA,which maybe contributes greatly to the failure of simulating a reasonable MJO.Comparing the simulated MJO by these two schemes indicate that the MJO simulated by the GCM is highly sensitive to cumulus parameterizations implanted in.The diabatic heating profile plays an important role in the performance of the GCM.Three sensitivity experiments with different heating profiles are designed in which modified heating profiles peak respectively in the upper troposphere(UH), middle troposphere(MH),and lower troposphere(LH).Both the LH run and the MH run produce eastward propagating signals on the intraseasonal timescale,while it is interesting that the intraseasonal timescale signals produced by the UH run propagate westward.It indicates that a realistic intraseasonal oscillation is more prone to be excited when the maximum heating concentrates in the middle-low levels,especially in the middle levels,while westward propagating disturbances axe more prone to be produced when the maximum heating appears very high.     

Sensitivity of the Simulated Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation to Cumulus Parameterizations

The sensitivity of the simulated tropical intraseasonal oscillation or MJO （Madden and Julian oscillation） to different cumulus parameterizations is studied by using an atmospheric general circulation model （GCM）--SAMIL （Spectral Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG）. Results show that performance of the model in simulating the MJO alters widely when using two different cumulus parameterization schemes-the moist convective adjustment scheme （MCA） and the Zhang-McFarlane （ZM） scheme. MJO simulated by the MCA scheme was found to be more realistic than that simulated by the ZM scheme. MJO produced by the ZM scheme is too weak and shows little propagation characteristics. Weak moisture convergence at low levels simulated by the ZM scheme is not enough to maintain the structure and the eastward propagation of the oscillation. These two cumulus schemes produced different vertical structures of the heating profile. The heating profile produced by the ZM scheme is nearly uniform with height and the heating is too weak compared to that produced by the MCA, which maybe contributes greatly to the failure of simulating a reasonable MJO. Comparing the simulated MJO by these two schemes indicate that the MJO simulated by the GCM is highly sensitive to cumulus parameterizations implanted in. The diabatic heating profile plays an important role in the performance of the GCM. Three sensitivity experiments with different heating profiles are designed in which modified heating profiles peak respectively in the upper troposphere （UH）, middle troposphere （MH）, and lower troposphere （LH）. Both the LH run and the MH run produce eastward propagating signals on the intraseasonal timescale, while it is interesting that the intraseasonal timescale signals produced by the UH run propagate westward. It indicates that a realistic intraseasonal oscillation is more prone to be excited when the maximum heating concentrates in the middle-low levels, especially in the middle levels, while westward propagating disturbances     

A sensitivity study of the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3) to the convective scheme with emphasis in central eastern and southeastern Europe

Regional climate simulations have been performed over the greater European area for 3 years using three convective parameterizations: (a) the Grell scheme with Arakawa-Schubert (AS) closure assumption, (b) the Grell scheme with Fritsch-Chappell (FC) closure assumption and (c) the MIT scheme. The comparison of the model results of near-surface temperature with near-surface temperature observations indicates a cold bias with both Grell scheme configurations. This bias is significantly reduced when the MIT convective scheme is introduced, even during months of low convective activity. The temperature differences between the Grell (with either AS or FC closure schemes) and the MIT scheme are largest in the lower troposphere, extending up to 700 hPa. In terms of total precipitation, no systematical differences between Grell and MIT schemes are observed throughout the year for the European domain but the convective portion of total precipitation is greater in the MIT scheme simulations. For the central Eastern Europe region, MIT scheme simulations generally produce more precipitation during the warm season than Grell simulations, while for the southern Eastern Europe region, the MIT precipitation enhancement is small and not systematically positive. It is evident that the cause of the differences between the convective schemes is the more intense convection in the MIT scheme configuration, which in turn imposes a more effective drying of the atmosphere, less low-level clouds, more short-wave solar radiation absorbed from the ground and hence warmer low level temperatures.     

Bias corrections of global models for regional climate simulations of high-impact weather

All global circulation models (GCMs) suffer from some form of bias, which when used as boundary conditions for regional climate models may impact the simulations, perhaps severely. Here we present a bias correction method that corrects the mean error in the GCM, but retains the six-hourly weather, longer-period climate-variability and climate change from the GCM. We utilize six different bias correction experiments; each correcting different bias components. The impact of the full bias correction and the individual components are examined in relation to tropical cyclones, precipitation and temperature. We show that correcting of all boundary data provides the greatest improvement.     

Sources of systematic errors in the climatology of a regional climate model over Europe

 Two ten-year simulations made with a European regional climate model (RCM) are compared. They are driven by the same observed sea surface temperatures but use different lateral boundary forcing. For one simulation, RCM AMIP, this forcing is obtained from a standard integration of a global general circulation model (GCM AMIP), whereas for the other simulation, RCM ASSIM, it is derived from a time series of operational analyses. The archive of analysis fields (surface pressure plus winds and temperatures on various pressure levels) is not sufficiently comprehensive to provide directly the full set of driving fields required for the RCM (in particular, no moisture fields are present), so these are obtained via a GCM integration, GCM ASSIM, in which the model is continuously relaxed towards the analysis fields using a data assimilation technique. Errors in RCM AMIP can arise either from the internal RCM physics or from errors in the lateral boundary forcing inherited from GCM AMIP. Errors in RCM ASSIM can arise from the internal RCM physics or the boundary moisture forcing but not from the driving circulation. Although previous studies have considered RCM integrations driven either by output from standard GCM integrations or operational analyses, our study is the first to compare parallel integrations of each type. This allows the total systematic error in an RCM integration driven by standard GCM output to be partitioned into components arising from the driving circulation and the internal RCM physics. These components indicate the scope for reducing regional simulation biases by improving either the driving GCM or the RCM itself. The results relate mainly to elements of surface climate likely to be influenced by both the driving circulation and regional physical processes operating in the RCM. For cloud cover, errors are found to arise largely from the internal RCM physics. Values are too low despite a positive relative humidity bias, indicating shortcomings in the parametrisation scheme used to calculate cloud cover. In summer, surface temperature and precipitation errors are also explained principally by regional processes. For example excessive solar heating leads to anomalously high surface temperatures over southern Europe and excessive drying of the soil reduces precipitation in the south eastern sector of the domain. The lateral boundary forcing reduces precipitation in the south eastern sector of the domain. The lateral boundary forcing also exerts some influence, mainly via a tropospheric cold bias which partially offsets the warming over southern Europe and also increases precipitation. In other seasons the lateral boundary forcing and the regional physics both contribute significantly to the errors in surface temperature and precipitation. In winter the boundary forcing (apart from moisture) is responsible for about 60% of the total error variance for temperature and about 40% for precipitation, due to the cold bias and circulation errors such as a southward shift in the storm track. The remaining errors arise from the regional physics, although for precipitation an excessive supply of moisture from the lateral boundaries also contributes. The skill of the mesoscale component of the surface temperature and precipitation distributions exceeds previous estimates, due to more realistic observed climatology. The mesoscale patterns are very similar in the two RCM simulations indicating that errors in the simulation of fine scale detail arise mainly from inadequate representations of local forcings rather than errors in the large-scale circulation. Circulation errors in RCM AMIP (e.g. cold bias, southward shift of storm track) are also present in GCM AMIP, but are largely absent in RCM ASSIM except in summer. This confirms evidence from previous work that the key to reducing most circulation errors in the RCM lies in improving the driving GCM. Regional processes only make a major contribution to circulation errors in summer, when reduced advection from the boundaries allows errors in surface temperature to be transmitted more effectively into the troposphere. Finally, we find evidence of error balances in the GCM which act to minimise biases in important climatological variables. This reflects tuning of the model physics at GCM resolution. In order to achieve simultaneous optimisation of the RCM and GCM at widely differing resolutions it may be necessary to introduce explicit scale dependences into some aspects of the physics. Received: 17 September 1997/Accepted: 10 March 1998     

Testing a GCM land surface scheme against catchment-scale runoff data

A GCM land surface scheme was used, in off-line mode, to simulate the runoff, latent and sensible heat fluxes for two distinct Australian catchments using observed atmospheric forcing. The tropical Jardine River catchment is 2500 km² and has an annual rainfall of 1700 mm y^–1 while the Canning River catchment is 540 km², has a Mediterranean climate (annual rainfall of 800 mm y^–1) and is ephemeral for half the year. It was found that the standard version of a land surface scheme developed for a GCM, and initialised as for incorporation into a GCM, simulated similar latent and sensible heat fluxes compared to a basin-scale hydrological model (MODHYDROLOG) which was calibrated for each catchment. However, the standard version of the land surface scheme grossly overestimated the observed peak runoff in the wet Jardine River catchment at the expense of runoff later in the season. Increasing the soil water storage permitted the land surface scheme to simulate observed runoff quite well, but led to a different simulation of latent and sensible heat compared to MODHYDROLOG. It is concluded that this 2-layer land surface scheme was unable to simulate both catchments realistically. The land surface scheme was then extended to a three-layer model. In terms of runoff, the resulting control simulations with soil depths chosen as for the GCM were better than the best simulations obtained with the two-layer model. The three-layer model simulated similar latent and sensible heat for both catchments compared to MODHYDROLOG. Unfortunately, for the ephemeral Canning River catchment, the land surface scheme was unable to time the observed runoff peak correctly. A tentative conclusion would be that this GCM land surface scheme may be able to simulate the present day state of some larger and wetter catchments but not catchments with peaky hydrographs and zero flows for part of the year. This conclusion requires examination with a range of GCM land surface schemes against a range of catchments. Received: 9 June 1995 / Accepted: 4 April 1996     

ATTILA: atmospheric tracer transport in a Lagrangian model

The model ATTILA has been developed to treat the global-scale transport of passive trace species in the atmosphere within the framework of a general circulation model (GCM). ATTILA runs online within the GCM ECHAM4 and advects the centroids of 80.000 to 190.000 constant mass air parcels. Each trace constituent is thereby represented by a mass mixing ratio in each parcel. ATTILA contains state-of-the-art parameterizations of convection, turbulent boundary layer mixing and inter-parcel transport, and provides an algorithm to map the tracer concentrations from the trajectories to the ECHAM model grid. The transport characteristics of ATTILA are evaluated against observations and the standard semi-Lagrangian transport scheme of ECHAM by two experiments. (1) We simulate the distribution of the short-lived tracer radon (²²²Rn) in order to examine fast vertical transport over continents, and long-range transport from the continents to remote areas. (2) We simulate the distribution of radiocarbon (¹⁴C) from nuclear weapon tests in order to examine upper tropospheric and stratospheric transport characteristics. Contrary to the semi-Lagrangian scheme, ATTILA shows a greatly reduced meridional transport in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and a reduced downward flux from the stratosphere to the troposphere, especially in mid-latitudes. Since ATTILA is a numerically non-diffusive scheme, it is able to maintain steep gradients, which compare better to the observations than the rather smooth gradients produced by the semi-Lagrangian scheme.     

What controls equatorial Atlantic winds in boreal spring?

The factors controlling equatorial Atlantic winds in boreal spring are examined using both observations and general circulation model (GCM) simulations from the coupled model intercomparison phase 5. The results show that the prevailing surface easterlies flow against the attendant pressure gradient and must therefore be maintained by other terms in the momentum budget. An important contribution comes from meridional advection of zonal momentum but the dominant contribution is the vertical transport of zonal momentum from the free troposphere to the surface. This implies that surface winds are strongly influenced by conditions in the free troposphere, chiefly pressure gradients and, to a lesser extent, meridional advection. Both factors are linked to the patterns of deep convection. Applying these findings to GCM errors indicates, that, consistent with the results of previous studies, the persistent westerly surface wind bias found in most GCMs is due mostly to precipitation errors, in particular excessive precipitation south of the equator over the ocean and deficient precipitation over equatorial South America. Free tropospheric influences also dominate the interannual variability of surface winds in boreal spring. GCM experiments with prescribed climatological sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) indicate that the free tropospheric influences are mostly associated with internal atmospheric variability. Since the surface wind anomalies in boreal spring are crucial to the development of warm SST events (Atlantic Niños), the results imply that interannual variability in the region may rely far less on coupled air–sea feedbacks than is the case in the tropical Pacific.     

Climate and Forecast Mode Simulations for Antarctica: Implications for Temperature and Wind

Climate and forecast mode simulations with the regional climate model HIRlam-ECHAM(HIRHAM) are evaluated over a pan-Antarctic domain. The ability of the model to simulate temperature and wind profiles in the troposphere is quantified by comparing its results with radiosonde data acquired from the Davis station for January and July 2007. Compared to the climate mode, the forecast mode was found to deliver improved results for temperature and wind simulations at the near surface and in the lower troposphere. The main remaining model bias found was the under-representation of low-level wind jets. Based on ensemble simulations, it is shown that a distinct internal variability is inherent in the climate mode simulations, and associated areas of reduced predictability over Antarctica are identified.     

Mean flow-transient perturbation interaction in the Southern Hemisphere: a simulation using a variable-resolution GCM

The ability of an atmospheric general circulation model to reproduce fundamental features of the wintertime extratropical Southern Hemisphere (SH) circulation is evaluated with emphasis on the daily variability of the SH mean flow and the mean flow-transient perturbations interaction. Two 10-year simulations using a new version of the LMDZ GCM with a stretched grid scheme centered at 45 °S and forced by climatological SST are performed: a high (144Ꮡ) and low (64Ꭹ) horizontal resolution runs. The performance of both simulations was determined by comparing several simulated fields (zonal wind, temperature, kinetic energy, transient eddy momentum and heat fluxes, Eliassen-Palm fluxes, Eady growth rate and baroclinic conversion term) against the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast reanalyses (ERA). High and low-resolution simulations are similar in many respects; in particular, both experiments reproduce the main patterns of the southern extratropical large-scale circulation satisfactorily. Increasing resolution does not improve universally some spurious aspects of the low resolution simulation (e.g. the cold bias in the high polar troposphere, the debilitated subtropical jet, the low baroclinic conversion rate). Those aspects present little sensitivity to the model resolution. The interaction between transient eddies and zonal mean flow are examined. The low-resolution experiment is able to qualitatively represent the acceleration/deceleration of the mean flow by transient perturbations, south/north of 30 °S with an accuracy similar to that of the high-resolution experiment. Although both experiments represent the baroclinic structure of the mean flow satisfactorily, the model underestimates some transient properties due to the underestimation of the baroclinic conversion term in middle latitudes. Such misrepresentation does not improve with increasing resolution and is related to the relatively weak meridional temperature gradient and the inadequate geographical distribution of the eddy heat fluxes. In particular, the eddy kinetic energy is always underestimated. Eddy kinetic energy does not improve convincingly with increasing resolution, suggesting that the adequate representation of the storm tracks is highly influenced by the physical parametrizations.     

On the simulation of Laurentian Great Lakes water levels under projections of global climate change

A new method is proposed to estimate future net basin supplies and lake levels for the Laurentian Great Lakes based on GCM projections of global climate change. The method first dynamically downscales the GCM simulation with a regional climate model, and then bias—corrects the simulated net basin supply in order to be used directly in a river—routing/lake level scheme. This technique addresses two weaknesses in the traditional approach, whereby observed sequences of climate variables are perturbed with fixed ratios or differences derived directly from GCMs in order to run evaporation and runoff models. Specifically, (1) land surface—atmosphere feedback processes are represented, and (2) changes in variability can be analyzed with the new approach. The method is demonstrated with a single, high resolution simulation, where small changes in future mean lake levels for all the upper Great Lakes are found, and an increase in seasonal range—especially for Lake Superior—is indicated. Analysis of a small ensemble of eight lower resolution regional climate model simulations supports these findings. In addition, a direct comparison with the traditional approach based on the same GCM projections used as the driving simulations in this ensemble shows that the new method indicates smaller declines in level for all the upper Great Lakes than has been reported previously based on the traditional method, though median differences are only a few centimetres in each case.     

Effect of Boundary Layer Latent Heating on MJO Simulations

A latent heating peak in the PBL was detected in a simulation by a global GCM that failed to reproduce Madden-Julian Oscillation(MJO).The latent heating peak in the PBL was generated by very shallow convection,which prevented moisture from being transported to the free troposphere.Large amount of moisture was therefore confined to the PBL,leading to a dry bias in the free atmosphere.Suffering from this dry bias,deep convection became lethargic,and MJO signals failed to occur.When the latent heating peak in the PBL was removed in another simulation,reasonable MJO signals,including the eastward propagation and the structure of its large-scale circulation,appeared.We therefore propose that the excessive latent heating peak in the PBL due to hyperactive shallow convection may be a reason for a lack of MJO signals in some simulations by other GCMs as well.     

Impacts of bias correction of lateral boundary conditions on regional climate projections in West Africa

Biases existing in the lateral boundary conditions (LBCs) influence climate simulations in regional climate models (RCMs). Correcting the biases in global climate model (GCM)-produced LBCs before running RCMs was proposed in previous studies as a possible way to reduce the GCM-related model dependence of future climate projections using RCMs. In this study the ICTP Regional Climate Model Version 4 (RegCM4) is used to investigate the impact of LBC bias correction on projected future changes of regional climate in West Africa. To accomplish this, two types of present versus future simulations are conducted using RegCM4: a control type where both the present and future LBCs are derived directly from the GCM output (as is done in most regional climate downscaling studies); an experiment type where the present-day LBCs are from reanalysis data and future LBCs are derived by combining the reanalysis data and the GCM-projected LBC changes. For each type of simulations, three different sets of LBCs are experimented on: 6-hourly synoptic forcing directly from the reanalysis or GCM, 6-hourly data interpolated from monthly climatology (without diurnal cycle), and 6-hourly data interpolated from the month-specific climatology of diurnal cycles. It is found that the simulations using different LBCs produce similar present-day summer rainfall patterns, but the predicted future changes differ significantly depending on how the LBC bias correction is treated. Specifically, both the bias correction applied at the synoptic scale and the bias correction applied to the monthly interpolated LBCs without diurnal cycle produce a spurious drying signal caused by physical inconsistency in the corrected future LBCs. Interpolated monthly LBCs with diurnal cycle alleviate the problem to a large extent. These results suggest that using bias-corrected LBCs to drive regional climate models may not guarantee reliable future projections although reasonable present climate can be simulated. Physical inconsistencies may be contained in the bias-corrected LBCs, increasing the uncertainties of RCM-produced future projections.     

极轨卫星高层通道在GRAPES同化系统中的应用

针对GRAPES(Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System)模式三维变分系统高层背景场温湿廓线外推方案的局限性,提出以气候垂直廓线重新构造高层温湿垂直结构,以减小外推方案的偏差。首先采用一维变分同化系统,展开模拟实验:分析目前模式中使用的外推方案误差及其对反演结果的影响,利用高层大气气候廓线构造垂直结构并分析同化偏差。最后,运用GRAPES全球分析预报系统进行同化实验并分析改进程度。结果显示:模拟研究表明采用高层背景场温湿廓线外推方案与实际观测相比最大偏差在1 h Pa附近可达数十度以上,不仅影响平流层,而且对对流层也有影响;用气候温度数据修正GRAPES高层温度数据,可以减少50%以上的偏差,证明了用气候值高层数据优化现行GRAPES模式中同化系统高层插值方案的可行性。全球GRAPES三维变分同化试验结果显示,改进方案不仅显著的改善平流层分析质量,对对流层中高层也有改进。     

Sensitivity of the regional climate model RegCM4.2 to planetary boundary layer parameterisation

This study investigates the performance of two planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterisations in the regional climate model RegCM4.2 with specific focus on the recently implemented prognostic turbulent kinetic energy parameterisation scheme: the University of Washington (UW) scheme. When compared with the default Holtslag scheme, the UW scheme, in the 10-year experiments over the European domain, shows a substantial cooling. It reduces winter warm bias over the north-eastern Europe by 2 °C and reduces summer warm bias over central Europe by 3 °C. A part of the detected cooling is ascribed to a general reduction in lower tropospheric eddy heat diffusivity with the UW scheme. While differences in temperature tendency due to PBL schemes are mostly localized to the lower troposphere, the schemes show a much higher diversity in how vertical turbulent mixing of the water vapour mixing ratio is governed. Differences in the water vapour mixing ratio tendency due to the PBL scheme are present almost throughout the troposphere. However, they alone cannot explain the overall water vapour mixing ratio profiles, suggesting strong interaction between the PBL and other model parameterisations. An additional 18-member ensemble with the UW scheme is made, where two formulations of the master turbulent length scale in unstable conditions are tested and unconstrained parameters associated with (a) the evaporative enhancement of the cloud-top entrainment and (b) the formulation of the master turbulent length scale in stable conditions are systematically perturbed. These experiments suggest that the master turbulent length scale in the UW scheme could be further refined in the current implementation in the RegCM model. It was also found that the UW scheme is less sensitive to the variations of the other two selected unconstrained parameters, supporting the choice of these parameters in the default formulation of the UW scheme.     

Evaluation of regional climate simulations for air quality modelling purposes

In order to evaluate the future potential benefits of emission regulation on regional air quality, while taking into account the effects of climate change, off-line air quality projection simulations are driven using weather forcing taken from regional climate models. These regional models are themselves driven by simulations carried out using global climate models (GCM) and economical scenarios. Uncertainties and biases in climate models introduce an additional “climate modeling” source of uncertainty that is to be added to all other types of uncertainties in air quality modeling for policy evaluation. In this article we evaluate the changes in air quality-related weather variables induced by replacing reanalyses-forced by GCM-forced regional climate simulations. As an example we use GCM simulations carried out in the framework of the ERA-interim programme and of the CMIP5 project using the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace climate model (IPSLcm), driving regional simulations performed in the framework of the EURO-CORDEX programme. In summer, we found compensating deficiencies acting on photochemistry: an overestimation by GCM-driven weather due to a positive bias in short-wave radiation, a negative bias in wind speed, too many stagnant episodes, and a negative temperature bias. In winter, air quality is mostly driven by dispersion, and we could not identify significant differences in either wind or planetary boundary layer height statistics between GCM-driven and reanalyses-driven regional simulations. However, precipitation appears largely overestimated in GCM-driven simulations, which could significantly affect the simulation of aerosol concentrations. The identification of these biases will help interpreting results of future air quality simulations using these data. Despite these, we conclude that the identified differences should not lead to major difficulties in using GCM-driven regional climate simulations for air quality projections.     

Further study on the effect of buffer zone size on regional climate modeling

In this study, the effect of buffer zone size on the performance of a regional climate model (RCM) was investigated. In contrast to carrying out simulations where the buffer zone expands inward, numerical experiments were performed with the buffer zone expanded outward, which ensured an objective comparison on the effect of buffer zone sizes. Case simulations on the abnormal 1998 East Asian summer monsoon demonstrated that an RCM’s performance depended on the outward expansion of the buffer zone. Moreover, a broader buffer zone is able to improve large-scale circulation simulation in the upper troposphere; however, a narrower buffer zone shows better performance in the middle and lower troposphere. Numerical experiments show that the performance of RCMs in simulating the seasonal evolution of rainbands over eastern China is not completely consistent with that of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH). A possible reason why the configuration with the buffer zone expanding inward can improve the extension/withdrawal of the summer monsoon and the associated precipitation evolution over eastern China is discussed.     

Momentum budget diagnosis and the parameterization of subgrid-scale orographic drag in global GRAPES

The initial tendency approach is used to diagnose systematic errors in global GRAPES (Global/Regional Assimilation Prediction System), including overly strong westerlies in the northern midlatitudes, cold/warm bias dipoles in the vicinity of the tropopause, and excessively strong southerlies in downstream regions of the Tibetan Plateau. This approach, involving the use of the assimilation system, focuses on the first few time steps of numerical weather forecasts to identify the deficiencies in diabatic forcing. The results show that there is insufficient diabatic dissipation in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere of the northern midlatitudes and the lower troposphere of most latitudes, which results from the absence of a parameterization of subgrid orographic drag in global GRAPES. A scheme to parameterize the effects of these drags is therefore tested and the experiments indicate that the newly introduced scheme reduces zonal momentum budget residuals, weakens the northern midlatitude westerlies and southerlies in the downstream regions of the Tibetan Plateau, decreases the cold/warm bias dipoles, and leads to improved objective verification scores.