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Title: Exploring a Variable-Resolution Approach for Simulating Regional Climate in the Rocky Mountain Region Using the VR-CESM: VR-CESM Simulation in the Rocky Mountains

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017jd027008· OSTI ID:1512955
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  2. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  4. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  5. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. The reliability of climate simulations and projections, particularly in the regions with complex terrains, is greatly limited by the model resolution. In this study we evaluate the variable-resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM) with a high-resolution (0.125°) refinement over the Rocky Mountain region. The VR-CESM results are compared with observations, as well as CESM simulation at a quasi-uniform 1° resolution (UNIF) and Canadian Regional Climate Model version 5 (CRCM5) simulation at a 0.11° resolution. We find that VR-CESM is effective at capturing the observed spatial patterns of temperature, precipitation, and snowpack in the Rocky Mountains with the performance comparable to CRCM5, while UNIF is unable to do so. VR-CESM and CRCM5 simulate better the seasonal variations of precipitation than UNIF, although VR-CESM still overestimates winter precipitation whereas CRCM5 and UNIF underestimate it. All simulations distribute more winter precipitation along the windward (west) flanks of mountain ridges with the greatest overestimation in VR-CESM. VR-CESM simulates much greater snow water equivalent peaks than CRCM5 and UNIF, although the peaks are still 10–40% less than observations. Moreover, the frequency of heavy precipitation events (daily precipitation ≥ 25 mm) in VR-CESM and CRCM5 is comparable to observations, whereas the same events in UNIF are an order of magnitude less frequent. In addition, VR-CESM captures the observed occurrence frequency and seasonal variation of rain-on-snow days and performs better than UNIF and CRCM5. These results demonstrate the VR-CESM's capability in regional climate modeling over the mountainous regions and its promising applications for climate change studies.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016605; AC02‐05CH11231; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1512955
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1405498; OSTI ID: 1515769
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 122, Issue 20; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Modeling extreme precipitation over East China with a global variable-resolution modeling framework (MPASv5.2): impacts of resolution and physics journal January 2019
Regionally refined test bed in E3SM atmosphere model version 1 (EAMv1) and applications for high-resolution modeling journal January 2019
Impacts of absorbing aerosol deposition on snowpack and hydrologic cycle in the Rocky Mountain region based on variable-resolution CESM (VR-CESM) simulations journal January 2018

Figures / Tables (18)

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Table 1(p. 5)table Table 1
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Figure 12(p. 19)figure Figure 12
Table 3(p. 19)table Table 3
Figure 13(p. 20)figure Figure 13
Figure 14(p. 21)figure Figure 14
Figure 15(p. 22)figure Figure 15

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
variable‐resolution CESM
high‐resolution climate modeling
Rocky Mountains
snowpack
heavy precipitation event
rain‐on‐snow