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Variable resolution general circulation models: Stretched‐grid model intercomparison project (SGMIP)

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Earth System Sciences Interdisciplinary Center University of Maryland at College Park College Park Maryland USA; University of Maryland, College Park, MD
  2. ESCER University of Québec at Montréal Montréal, Québec Canada; Numerical Prediction Research, Meteorological Research Division Environment Canada Dorval, Québec Canada
  3. Météo‐France CNRM Toulouse France
  4. Marine and Atmospheric Research CSIRO Aspendale, Victoria Australia
+ Show Author Affiliations

Variable resolution general circulation models (GCMs) using a global stretched grid with enhanced uniform resolution over the region(s) of interest have proven to be an established approach to regional climate modeling providing an efficient regional downscaling to mesoscales. This approach has been used since the early to mid‐1990s by climate modeling groups from France, the United States, Canada, and Australia, among others, along with or as an alternative to the current widely used nested‐grid approach. Stretched‐grid GCMs are used for continuous/autonomous climate simulations, as are usual GCMs, with the only difference being that variable resolution grids are used instead of more traditional uniform grids. The important advantages of variable resolution stretched‐grid GCMs are that they do not require any lateral boundary conditions/forcing and are free of the associated undesirable computational problems; as a result, they provide self‐consistent interactions between global and regional scales of motion and their associated phenomena as in uniform grid GCMs. The international stretched‐grid model intercomparison project, phase 1 (SGMIP‐1), using variable resolution GCMs developed at major centers/groups in Australia, Canada, France, and the United States, was initiated in 2001 and successfully conducted in 2002–2005. The results of the 12‐year (1987–1998) climate simulations for a major part of North America are available at the SGMIP Web site: http://essic.umd.edu/∼foxrab/sgmip.html. The SGMIP‐1 multimodel ensemble results for the region compare well with reanalysis and observations in terms of spatial and temporal diagnostics. Regional biases for time‐averaged model products are mostly limited to about half (or less) of typical reanalysis errors, i.e., within the uncertainties of the available reanalyses, while a high quality of global circulation is preserved. SGMIP products are available to national and international programs such as the World Meteorological Organization/World Climate Research Program/Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (WMO/WCRP/WGNE).

Research Organization:
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
FG02-01ER63197
OSTI ID:
953674
Report Number(s):
JGR-SGMIP1-2006; 0007185
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: D16 Vol. 111; ISSN 0148-0227
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
Variable resolution climate models
regional climate modeling