Final Report: Improving Representation of Extreme Precipitation Events in Regional Climate Models
Dates
Acquisition
2015-08-16
Citation
Final Report: Improving Representation of Extreme Precipitation Events in Regional Climate Models: .
Summary
The south-central U.S. exists in a zone of dramatic transition in terms of eco-climate system diversity. Ecosystems across much of the region rely on warm-season convective precipitation. These convective precipitation is subject to large uncertainties under climate change scenario, possibly leading to gradual or sudden changes in habitats, and ecosystems. The convective precipitation in this region, occurring on a range of time and space scales, is extremely challenging to predict in future climate scenario. In this project, we established a unique, cutting-edge, dynamic downscaling capability to address the challenge of predicting precipitation in the south-central U.S. in current and future climate scenarios. As the first step, [...]
Summary
The south-central U.S. exists in a zone of dramatic transition in terms of eco-climate system diversity. Ecosystems across much of the region rely on warm-season convective precipitation. These convective precipitation is subject to large uncertainties under climate change scenario, possibly leading to gradual or sudden changes in habitats, and ecosystems. The convective precipitation in this region, occurring on a range of time and space scales, is extremely challenging to predict in future climate scenario.
In this project, we established a unique, cutting-edge, dynamic downscaling capability to address the challenge of predicting precipitation in the south-central U.S. in current and future climate scenarios. As the first step, a regional climate model (RCM) is developed by coupling a state-of-the-science land surface and hydrologic model, i.e., the Community Land Model (CLM), with the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. Such a coupled system can better capture physical variability and extremes and be able to more accurately quantify the climate impacts on water availability and quality, and subsequent impacts on agriculture, wildlife, and cultural resources, etc. The RCM is run at unprecedented convection-resolving spatial resolutions (with grid cells smaller than typical convective storms) that are capable of explicitly and directly representing severe convective storms.
