HR: 10:20h
AN: A32A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Regional Climate Modeling with Variable-Resolution Stretched-Grid GCMs
AU: * Fox-Rabinovitz, M
EM: foxrab@essic.umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, ESSIC, 224 CSS Bldg., College Park, md 20742
AU: Cote, J
EM: Jean.Cote@ec.gc.ca
AF: RPN/Meteorological Service of Canada, 2121 Trans-Canada Highway, Dorval, QC H9P 1J3 Canada
AU: Dugas, B
EM: Bernard.Dugas@ec.gc.ca
AF: RPN/Meteorological Service of Canada, 2121 Trans-Canada Highway, Dorval, QC H9P 1J3 Canada
AU: Deque, M
EM: deque@meteo.fr
AF: Meteo-France CNRM/GMGEC/EAC, Avenue Coriolis, Toulouse, FRA 31057
AU: McGregor, J
EM: John.McGregor@csiro.Au
AF: CSIRO, CSIRO Enquiries, Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169 Australia
AU: Gleckler, P
EM: gleckler1@llnl.gov
AF: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-103, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550
AB: Variable resolution GCMs using a global stretched grid (SG) with enhanced regional resolution over one or multiple areas of interest represent a viable approach to regional climate modeling that has been established since the mid-1990's. The SG-approach provides an efficient regional downscaling to mesoscales and consistent interactions between global/large- and regional/meso- scales while preserving the high quality of global circulation. The SG-GCM ensembles have shown the potential in reducing the uncertainties of regional climate simulations. The international Stretched-Grid Model Intercomparison Project (SGMIP) has been initiated in 2002 for studying the global variable-resolution/stretched-grid approach to regional climate modeling. The phase-1 of the project, SGMIP-1, will be completed in 2005. The SG-GCMs participating in SGMIP-1 are the variable-resolution versions of the basic GCMs of the following four major meteorological centers/groups: (a) the Meteo-France, ARPEGE model, (b) the RPN/Canadian Meteorological Service, GEM model, (c) the Australian CSIRO C-CAM model, and (d) the U.S. NASA/GSFC GEOS model. The 12-year (1987-1998) AMIP-type SG-GCM simulations of the U.S. climate with enhanced, 0.5§ regional resolution are analyzed in terms of studying: (a) an efficient/realistic downscaling to mesoscales; (b) interannual climate variability; (c) ENSO related and other anomalous regional climate events (floods, droughts, etc.) and major monsoonal circulations; (d) water and energy cycles. The analysis of SGMIP-1 multi-model ensemble integrations confirmed that a significant reduction of the uncertainty of regional climate simulations is achieved for the multi-model ensemble mean. The SGMIP-1 results are available on the web site (that is being updated): http://esic.umd.edu/~foxrab/sgmip.html SGMIP-1 laid a solid scientific foundation for conducting the new SGMIP-2 (phase-2 of SGMIP). SGMIP-2 will include multi-model ensemble simulation results for an extended period of over two decades. The SGMIP-2 effort will include the accompanying comparisons of enhanced uniform and variable resolution GCMs, with the emphasis on the multi-model ensemble mode. We are establishing a connection with the AMIP group on introducing the SGMIP-1 data and their analysis as a regional project and the SGMIP-2 data and their analysis as an enhanced uniform and variable resolution project, both with the emphasis on the U.S. climate. The SGMIP effort is beneficial to all the participants as well as to a broader regional (and eventually global) climate modeling community.
DE: 3337 Numerical modeling and data assimilation
DE: 3309 Climatology (1620)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting