Köppen bioclimatic evaluation of CMIP historical climate simulations
Abstract
Köppen bioclimatic classification relates generic vegetation types to characteristics of the interactive annual-cycles of continental temperature (T) and precipitation (P). In addition to predicting possible bioclimatic consequences of past or prospective climate change, a Köppen scheme can be used to pinpoint biases in model simulations of historical T and P. In this study a Köppen evaluation of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) simulations of historical climate is conducted for the period 1980–1999. Evaluation of an example CMIP5 model illustrates how errors in simulating Köppen vegetation types (relative to those derived from observational reference data) can be deconstructed and related to model-specific temperature and precipitation biases. Measures of CMIP model skill in simulating the reference Köppen vegetation types are also developed, allowing the bioclimatic performance of a CMIP5 simulation of T and P to be compared quantitatively with its CMIP3 antecedent. Although certain bioclimatic discrepancies persist across model generations, the CMIP5 models collectively display an improved rendering of historical T and P relative to their CMIP3 counterparts. Additionally, the Köppen-based performance metrics are found to be quite insensitive to alternative choices of observational reference data or to differences in model horizontal resolution.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1222423
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1239012; OSTI ID: 1251065
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-667855
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Grant/Contract Number:
- KP170301; AC52-07NA27344
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters Journal Volume: 10 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Phillips, Thomas J., and Bonfils, Céline J. W. Köppen bioclimatic evaluation of CMIP historical climate simulations. United Kingdom: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064005.
Phillips, Thomas J., & Bonfils, Céline J. W. Köppen bioclimatic evaluation of CMIP historical climate simulations. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064005
Phillips, Thomas J., and Bonfils, Céline J. W. Fri .
"Köppen bioclimatic evaluation of CMIP historical climate simulations". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064005.
@article{osti_1222423,
title = {Köppen bioclimatic evaluation of CMIP historical climate simulations},
author = {Phillips, Thomas J. and Bonfils, Céline J. W.},
abstractNote = {Köppen bioclimatic classification relates generic vegetation types to characteristics of the interactive annual-cycles of continental temperature (T) and precipitation (P). In addition to predicting possible bioclimatic consequences of past or prospective climate change, a Köppen scheme can be used to pinpoint biases in model simulations of historical T and P. In this study a Köppen evaluation of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) simulations of historical climate is conducted for the period 1980–1999. Evaluation of an example CMIP5 model illustrates how errors in simulating Köppen vegetation types (relative to those derived from observational reference data) can be deconstructed and related to model-specific temperature and precipitation biases. Measures of CMIP model skill in simulating the reference Köppen vegetation types are also developed, allowing the bioclimatic performance of a CMIP5 simulation of T and P to be compared quantitatively with its CMIP3 antecedent. Although certain bioclimatic discrepancies persist across model generations, the CMIP5 models collectively display an improved rendering of historical T and P relative to their CMIP3 counterparts. Additionally, the Köppen-based performance metrics are found to be quite insensitive to alternative choices of observational reference data or to differences in model horizontal resolution.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064005},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
number = 6,
volume = 10,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064005
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