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Title: Regional Climate Simulations With the Community Earth System Model

Journal Article · · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017MS001227· OSTI ID:1441094
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder CO USA
  2. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee WI USA
  3. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder CO USA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore CA USA
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The spectral element (SE) variable-resolution (VR) mesh dynamical core is tested in developmental versions of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2). The SE dynamical core is tested in baroclinic wave, aquaplanet and full physics configurations to evaluate variable-resolution simulations against uniform high and uniform low-resolution simulations. Different physical parameterization suites are also evaluated to gauge their sensitivity to resolution. Dry dynamical core variable-resolution cases compare well to high-resolution tests. More recent versions of the atmospheric physics, including cloud schemes for CESM2, are less sensitive to changes in horizontal resolution. Most of the sensitivity is due to sensitivity to time step and interactions between deep convection and large-scale condensation, which is expected from the closure methods. The resulting full physics SE-VR model produces a similar climate to the global lowresolution mesh and similar high-frequency statistics in the high-resolution region. The SE-VR simulations are able to reproduce uniform high-resolution results, making them an effective tool for regional climate simulations at lower computational cost. Some biases are reduced (orographic precipitation in Western United States), but biases do not necessarily go away at high resolution (e.g., summertime surface temperatures). Variable-resolution grids are a viable alternative to traditional nesting for regional climate studies and are available in CESM2.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0006702; AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1441094
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1441095; OSTI ID: 1513126
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-769389
Journal Information:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Journal Name: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems Vol. 10 Journal Issue: 6; ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 37 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Figures / Tables (18)

Table 1(p. 3)table Table 1
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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
regional
climate
model