Ramón de Elía

Potential for added value in precipitation simulated by high-resolution nested Regional Climate Models and observations

Regional Climate Models (RCMs) constitute the most often used method to perform affordable high-resolution regional climate simulations. The key issue in the evaluation of nested regional models is to determine whether RCM simulations improve the representation of climatic statistics compared to the driving data, that is, whether RCMs add value. In this study we examine a necessary condition that some climate statistics derived from the precipitation field must satisfy in order that the RCM technique can generate some added value: we focus on whether the climate statistics of interest contain some fine spatial-scale variability that would be absent on a coarser grid. The presence and magnitude of fine-scale precipitation variance required to adequately describe a given climate statistics will then be used to quantify the potential added value (PAV) of RCMs. Our results show that the PAV of RCMs is much higher for short temporal scales (e.g., 3-hourly data) than for long temporal scales (16-day average data) due to the filtering resulting from the time-averaging process. PAV is higher in warm season compared to cold season due to the higher proportion of precipitation falling from small-scale weather systems in the warm season. In regions of complex topography, the orographic forcing induces an extra component of PAV, no matter the season or the temporal scale considered. The PAV is also estimated using high-resolution datasets based on observations allowing the evaluation of the sensitivity of changing resolution in the real climate system. The results show that RCMs tend to reproduce relatively well the PAV compared to observations although showing an overestimation of the PAV in warm season and mountainous regions.

Internal Variability in Regional Climate Downscaling at the Seasonal Scale

To study the internal variability of the model and its consequences on seasonal statistics, large ensembles of twenty 3-month simulations of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM), differing only in their initial conditions, were generated over different domain sizes in eastern North America for a summer season. The degree of internal variability was measured as the spread between the individual members of the ensemble during the integration period. Results show that the CRCM internal variability depends strongly on synoptic events, as is seen by the pulsating behavior of the time evolution of variance during the period of integration. The existence of bimodal solutions for the circulation is also noted. The geographical distribution of variance depends on the variables; precipitation shows maximum variance in the southern United States, while 850-hPa geopotential height exhibits maximum variance in the northeast part of the domain. Results suggest that strong precipitation events in the southern United States may act as a triggering mechanism for the 850-hPa geopotential height spread along the storm track, which reaches its maximum toward the northeast of the domain. This study reveals that successive reductions of the domain size induce a general decrease in the internal variability of the model, but an important variation in its geographical distribution and amplitude was detected. The influence of the internal variability at the seasonal scale was evaluated by computing the variance between the individual member seasonal averages of the ensemble. Large values of internal variability for precipitation suggest possible repercussions of internal variability on seasonal statistics.

Climate and climate change sensitivity to model configuration in the Canadian RCM over North America

Climate simulations performed with Regional Climate Models (RCMs) have been found to show sensitivity to parameter settings. The origin, consequences and interpretations of this sensitivity are varied, but it is generally accepted that sensitivity studies are very important for a better understanding and a more cautious manipulation of RCM results. In this work we present sensitivity experiments performed on the simulated climate produced by the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM). In addition to climate sensitivity to parameter variation, we analyse the impact of the sensitivity on the climate change signal simulated by the CRCM.These studies are performed on 30-year long simulated present and future seasonal climates, and we have analysed the effect of seven kinds of configuration modifications: CRCM initial conditions, lateral boundary condition (LBC), nesting update interval, driving Global Climate Model (GCM), driving GCM member, large-scale spectral nudging, CRCM version, and domain size. Results show that large changes in both the driving model and the CRCM physics seem to be the main sources of sensitivity for the simulated climate and the climate change. Their effects dominate those of configuration issues, such as the use or not of large-scale nudging, domain size, or LBC update interval. Results suggest that in most cases, differences between simulated climates for different CRCM configurations are not transferred to the estimated climate change signal: in general, these tend to cancel each other out.

Sensitivity Study of Regional Climate Model Simulations to Large-Scale Nudging Parameters

Abstract Previous studies with nested regional climate models (RCMs) have shown that large-scale spectral nudging (SN) seems to be a powerful method to correct RCMs’ weaknesses such as internal variability, intermittent divergence in phase space (IDPS), and simulated climate dependence on domain size and geometry. Despite its initial success, SN is not yet in widespread use because of disagreement regarding the main premises—the unconfirmed advantages of removing freedom from RCMs’ large scales—and lingering doubts regarding its potentially negative side effects. This research addresses the latter issue. Five experiments have been carried out with the Canadian RCM (CRCM) over North America. Each experiment, performed under a given SN configuration, consists of four ensembles of simulations integrated on four different domain sizes for a summer season. In each experiment, the effects of SN on internal variability, time means, extremes, and power spectra are discussed. As anticipated from previous investiga...

Challenges in the Quest for Added Value of Regional Climate Dynamical Downscaling

This paper summarises the current state of understanding with respect to the added value (AV) to be expected from one-way nested high-resolution regional climate simulations and projections. The reasons that lead to the development and the progress of regional climate models (RCMs) are first considered. The scientific basis sustaining the RCMs mission is then briefly reviewed. Based on recent publications of studies on the topic of AV, concepts related to the various definitions of AV are examined with the aim of clarifying their meaning and of bridging different schools of thought. The conditions under which AV can be expected, and in which variables and statistical moments, are also discussed.

Potential for added value in temperature simulated by high-resolution nested RCMs in present climate and in the climate change signal

Regional Climate Models (RCMs) have been developed in the last two decades in order to produce high-resolution climate information by downscaling Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs) simulations or analyses of observed data. A crucial evaluation of RCMs worth is given by the assessment of the value added compared to the driving data. This evaluation is usually very complex due to the manifold circumstances that can preclude a fair assessment. In order to circumvent these issues, here we limit ourselves to estimating the potential of RCMs to add value over coarse-resolution data. We do this by quantifying the importance of fine-scale RCM-resolved features in the near-surface temperature, but disregarding their skill. The Reynolds decomposition technique is used to separate the variance of the time-varying RCM-simulated temperature field according to the contribution of large and small spatial scales and of stationary and transient processes. The temperature variance is then approximated by the contribution of four terms, two of them associated with coarse-scales (e.g., corresponding to the scales that can be simulated by AOGCMs) and two of them describing the original contribution of RCM simulations. Results show that the potential added value (PAV) emerges almost exclusively in regions characterised by important surface forcings either due to the presence of fine-scale topography or land-water contrasts. Moreover, some of the processes leading to small-scale variability appear to be related with relatively simple mechanisms such as the distinct physical properties of the Earth surface and the general variation of temperature with altitude in the Earth atmosphere. Finally, the article includes some results of the application of the PAV framework to the future temperature change signal due to anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. Here, contrary to previous studies centred on precipitation, findings suggest for surface temperature a relatively low potential of RCMs to add value over coarser resolution models, with the greatest potential located in coastline regions due to the differential warming occurring in land and water surfaces.

Considerations of Domain Size and Large-Scale Driving for Nested Regional Climate Models: Impact on Internal Variability and Ability at Developing Small-Scale Details

The premise of dynamical downscaling is that a high-resolution, nested Regional Climate Model (RCM), driven by large-scale atmospheric fields at its lateral boundary, generates fine scales that are dynamically consistent with the large scales. An RCM is hence expected to act as a kind of magnifying glass that will reveal details that could not be resolved on a coarse mesh. The small scales represent the main potential added value of a high-resolution RCM.

Impact of spectral nudging and domain size in studies of RCM response to parameter modification

The paper aims at finding an RCM configuration that facilitates studies devoted to quantifying RCM response to parameter modification. When using short integration times, the response of the time-averaged variables to RCM modification tend to be blurred by the noise originating in the lack of predictability of the instantaneous atmospheric states. Two ways of enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio are studied in this work: spectral nudging and reduction of the computational domain size. The approach followed consists in the analysis of the sensitivity of RCM-simulated seasonal averages to perturbations of two parameters controlling deep convection and stratiform condensation, perturbed one at a time. Sensitivity is analyzed within different simulation configurations obtained by varying domain size and using the spectral nudging option. For each combination of these factors multiple members of identical simulations that differ exclusively in initial conditions are also generated to provide robust estimates of the sensitivities (the signal) and sample the noise. Results show that the noise magnitude is decreased both by reduction of domain size and the spectral nudging. However, the reduction of domain size alters some sensitivity signals. When spectral nudging is used significant alterations of the signal are not found.

Diversity in Interpretations of Probability: Implications for Weather Forecasting

Over the last years, probability weather forecasts have become increasingly popular due in part to the development of ensemble forecast systems. Despite its widespread use in atmospheric sciences, probability forecasting remains a subtle and ambiguous way of representing the uncertainty related to a future meteorological situation. There are several schools of thought regarding the interpretation of probabilities, none of them without flaws, internal contradictions, or paradoxes. Usually, researchers tend to have personal views that are mostly based on intuition and follow a pragmatic approach. These conceptual differences may not matter when accuracy of a probabilistic forecast is measured over a long period (e.g., through the use of Brier score), which may be useful for particular objectives such as cost/benefit decision making. However, when scientists wonder about the exact meaning of the probabilistic forecast in a single case (e.g., rare and extreme event), the differences of interpretation become important. This work intends to describe this problem by first drawing attention to the more commonly accepted interpretations of probability, and then, the consequences of these assumptions are studied. Results suggest that without agreement on the interpretation, the usefulness of the probability forecast as a tool for single events—which include record-breaking events—remains unknown. An open discussion of this topic within the community would be useful to clarify the communication among researchers, with the public and with decision makers.

Reproducible and Irreproducible Components in Ensemble Simulations with a Regional Climate Model

Abstract High-resolution limited-area models (LAMs) have been widely employed to downscale coarse-resolution climate simulations or objective analyses. The growing evidence that LAM climate statistics can be sensitive to initial conditions suggests that a deterministic verification of LAM solutions in terms of finescale atmospheric features might be misguided. In this study a 20-member ensemble of LAM integrations with perturbed initial conditions, driven by NCEP–NCAR reanalyses, is conducted for a summer season over a midlatitude domain. Ensemble simulations allow for the separation of the downscaled information in two parts: a unique, reproducible component associated with lateral-boundary and surface forcing, and an irreproducible component associated with internal variability. The partition in the reproducible and irreproducible components and their seasonal statistics is examined as a function of horizontal length scale, geographical position within the domain, height, and weather episodes during the...